THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS 2015, CHICAGO POLICE RESPONDED TO A CALL FROM the father of a 19-year-old college student, Quintonio LeGrier, who was at his Austin home wielding a baseball bat, apparently in mental distress. LeGrier himself had called 911 three times that morning asking for help.
But he never got it. An officer who arrived at the scene, Robert Rialmo, wound up fatally shooting LeGrier outside his father’s home. In the process, Rialmo accidentally killed a neighbor, Bettie Jones. Prosecutors declined to press charges against the officer, saying LeGrier had moved toward him with the bat above his head.
Rialmo was
