WEBVTT - The Nurse 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.840 What you're about to hear in the following episode does 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:06.080 not implicate the Chicago Police in the murder of Courtney 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:12.240 Copeland previously on Somebody. There are still so many unanswered 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.080 questions about what led to the death of twenty two 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.560 year old Courtney Copeland. Family members say Copeland was on 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:20.640 his way to a friend's house when he was shot 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.919 through his car window. A bullet hit his back. He 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.360 managed to flag down a police car in front of 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.280 the district station and was rushed to a hospital. The 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:34.120 wound was fatal. I believe that not enough has been 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.360 done to thought of Courtney murder, Like what would you 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.600 like done that I haven't done. I personally would have 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.159 went back and reinterviewed everybody to make sure that we 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:49.760 absolutely who ever did this to us, as did you 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:58.800 turn yourself in to ask for forgiveness from God. My 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:03.240 name is Chaparral Else this is a story of my son, Courtney, 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.400 a young black man in a fancy car who wound 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.480 up with a bullet in his back in front of 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:12.200 a Chicago police station. And it's the story of my 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:19.880 search for the truth. This is Somebody. Everybody. Somebids every 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:44.360 day non bide the snugging. That's right, and so every 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:48.320 black person in this country must rise up and say 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:55.840 I'm somebody. I have a rich, proud and noble history, 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:02.200 however painful and exploded, it has been a Black people 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.080 have always had to say it out loud, I am 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.960 somebody because the people in charge keep telling us we're not. 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.760 I am black, but I'm black and beautiful. This is 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:16.200 something Dr Martin Luther King used to stay in front 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.200 of crowds, and Reverend Jesse Jackson has carried on the tradition. 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.639 When I hear Reverend Jackson saying that when he tells 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.239 you that you are somebody, he reminds you to think 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:39.480 about your own self worth. And even though the world 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.280 around you was telling you that you are nothing, you 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:54.960 are somebody. And my son Courtney, he was somebody. I 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.560 felt I had the responsibility to force the police to 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.720 take a look at his case and say, hey, this 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:16.400 kid is somebody. Hey, everybody, welcome back to Keep Up 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.280 Alive with Reverend Jesse Jackson. I'm Santita Jackson. We want 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.200 you to call us at one. That's Santita Jackson. She 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.320 co hosts the radio show Keep Hope Alive with her 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:29.960 father Reverend Jesse Jackson here in Chicago. Their show airs 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.359 on w v o N The Voice of the Nation, 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.200 but it used to be called the Voice of the Negro. 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:38.480 The station was a catalyst and getting out the message 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.200 of the civil rights movement, and now their mainstream. Let 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:44.240 me go to chappearl from Chicago. What is on your mind? 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.960 I've been a frequent caller for years. I'm always on 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.480 their Facebook page and I'm so glad you came off 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:56.640 of that Facebook. What's on your money today? Thank you 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:58.840 so much for taking my concern a little good morning 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.320 to your panel. I wanted to actually reiterate what Dr 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:07.520 Roberts said. You were one of my best callers, someone 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:11.839 who was very confrontational in a respectful way, very informed, 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:14.520 and very determined to get the story right. So the 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.680 thing about Santita, she knows so many people, she's connected. 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.760 So after Courtney was killed, she was one of the 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.080 first people I called. There was two or three in 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.960 the morning, something like that. I immediately became alarmed because 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.360 anyone who calls me at that hour it's typically not 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:36.520 good news. And you were in between crying and talking, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:38.920 and you just kept saying, this is my son and 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:43.520 my baby. You just kept saying, Courtney, my baby, my baby, Santita, 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:47.320 he's been killed. I told her the detectives wouldn't tell 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.240 me much of anything, but they wanted to ask me 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:52.800 a bunch of questions. I said, I told you to stop. 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:58.599 You need to record that is right down, everything that 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.760 you heard and saw felt, because you will lose it 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:06.279 as we go, as time goes on. Fantitita's advice to 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:10.279 write everything down, that was the best advice I could 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.360 have been given. In the beginning, you get the truth. 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.000 The cover up happens after the first day or so, 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:22.680 but in the beginning, you get the truth. I went 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.279 straight into investigate a mode. I wrote up a timeline 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:28.880 and I made a voice recording on my phone to 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:33.200 keep track of all the details. I told that recorder 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.880 everything I was thinking about the night I got the news, 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:50.919 so approximate around two fifteen am, I received a thunderous 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:56.160 beat on my door and I told that recorder about 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:05.360 my conversation with detectives. I begin to question, through my pain, 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.760 can I talk to the officer. I need to know 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:13.880 exactly what my son said to him, and they said 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.000 that that's the only thing that he had said that 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:22.239 he had been shot. I also told that recorder about 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:26.840 what I really believed happened to Courtney. I believe my 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:36.120 son was stopped and pulled out his vehicle because they 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:40.880 ran the place and they saw a young black man 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:47.280 driving the Hispanic area with a car that was not 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:52.880 registered in a black person's name. Courtney had a co 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:57.400 sign on that BMW his friend Christian Hernandez. It was 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:03.640 his name on the car registration and not Courtneys, which 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:09.920 the police would have known they ran his plates, and 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.000 Christian told me that police called him right after Courtney 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.040 died to ask who the real owner of the car was. 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.360 And another thing we knew. The police had Courtney's name, 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:25.080 the male of his name, and so they would have 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.200 learned that Courtney had an I R number. That's a 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.400 number that's assigned to you when you're arrested. Let me 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:37.560 give you a little backstory. When Courtney was about seventeen, 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.200 he and some friends found a debit card to school 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:43.160 and they used it to buy some Harold's chicken. And 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:47.160 I get this phone call and it's my mom and 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:52.280 she's like, Courtney's in jail. I'm like, who what, Cordneys, 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.920 Who does our mare. So I have told her well, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:57.760 and I don't care what he did. Leave him there. 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:03.480 I remember being so mad at him. Courtney was punished 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.920 with the in school suspension. The case was tossed. He 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:13.680 never got rested again, but the I R number followed him, 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.200 no matter that he was just a kid and all 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:19.040 that he and his friends did was still some chicken. 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:31.160 A week after Courtney died, me, my husband Brent, and 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:37.000 my mom Renee, we met with police. The station was 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:43.160 old and dilapidated. Brint recorded the whole thing on his 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:52.960 phone from his pocket. Hello. Hi. While we waited, I 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:58.640 was taking calls and planning Courtney's funeral. The wake is 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:02.800 at one, then the uh, the actual services is going 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.720 to start at three, so it's a two hour visitation 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.040 and then the program obvious a meeting. Can I getting 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.520 some soft drinks, water chips, anything at all? Waters, water, water, 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:21.920 free water from you? Yeah, Monday is the barrier, Sergeant Mitchell? No, no, no, 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:25.000 is that team. Hold hold on one second. The three 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.640 of us set across from the three of them. I 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:31.559 just wanted to know if you want to speaking next, 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.880 and what was your sergeant, Mitchell? Sergeant m Yes, ma'am. Oh, 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:42.240 you're the big wig. Huh. I wrote down their names. Okay, okay, 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:46.959 first of all, you have our condolences. Um. Everybody we've 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:51.360 spoken to. Um, there's someone was a great kid, Um 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:53.400 and nobody's had a bad word to say about them. 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.640 And they told us they do everything they could to 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.679 find out who killed court this er persons to justice. Okay. 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.880 We we we myself, the detectives. I couldn't have two better 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:08.800 guys work in the case. Okay. Um, you know there's 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.080 you know, there's some sometimes people are out in that game, 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.880 they're they're playing out there and you know, things happen. 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:21.160 This is not the case here, um, And like I said, 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.000 you're it provides us with an extra incentive. You know. 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:27.880 We were kind of of the belief that homicide is 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:29.880 you know, it's almost biblical. It's like the worst thing 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:31.960 you can do to somebody. Here. They asked if we 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.880 had any questions. My mom, Brent and I we had 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:39.640 a lot, so farre away. Okay. The first question I 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.680 hit was who was the officer on the scene that 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.920 assisted my son. There were several officers on the scene, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:51.360 and um, they did they attempted to They were they're 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:56.439 comforting to your son. We know that for a fact. Um, 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.719 may we have the n ange of the officers. No, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.480 I am not gonna um not right now. Okay, let's 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:09.360 just okay, okay, okay, um. No, we're not going to 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.600 give out names of officers in this okay, Um. But 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.800 I can ensure you that they summoned help right away. 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.480 They comforted your son. Um, they did all that they 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:30.760 could to help him. Um. You know, you know, you 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:32.079 see and you hear a lot of things. But I'm 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.880 actually really proud of the way the officers conducted themselves, 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.840 you know. But when I started to press them, it 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.160 was clear they hadn't even talked to the officers on 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:44.640 the scene. So when my son approached the cops, what 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:49.199 did he say? From what I understand, even if you 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:53.120 related to the officer, he'd been shot. Um, they called 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:54.920 nine when they got on the radio, and some of 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:58.240 an ambulance. He didn't tell them anything. He didn't elaborate, 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:03.520 like him occurred that. I mean, I know my son, 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:05.960 and that's just like hard to belie. We are going 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.240 to speak with all the officers that were on the scene. Okay, 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.960 so you haven't done it. The detectives. They see what happened. 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:17.160 This happened over the midnight shift, and Midnight's assigns detectives 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.320 to do the scene, and they speak with the officers, 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.679 and we're there. I asked them about the cameras right 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.800 outside the station, the ones that would have shown what 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.600 happened when my son pulled up, about the police station, 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.080 the police station. Those cameras don't work. Those cameras do 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.959 not that's crazy, they said, they didn't work. I tell you, 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:40.240 I arrived as the young policeman in that station in May. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.120 I went to the district those cameras, and I was 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.199 there in January of ninety one until we came here 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:52.400 four years ago. Multiple requests over the years, the district 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.200 commander to him, right outside the police station, there's a 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.760 big park with three schools. So to tell me those 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:03.040 cameras hadn't worked in that case, that was unacceptable. I 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.240 do share. I do share your frustration when things don't 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:10.760 work for us. Cameras don't work, computers don't work, automobiles 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:15.800 don't work. It is very frustrating. But you know what, 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:20.200 we have these hurdles in every investigation. I'm just trying. 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:27.120 How can you use the people have to how I 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:32.080 feel like the job is to serve and protect, but 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:33.880 you can't do it your if you don't have the 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.080 property equipment to use it. And that shows me the 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:41.720 lack of priority it is to save lives in this city. 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:43.679 But when I talked to the detectives on the phone 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.120 to set up this meeting, one of them told me 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.160 that they had already seen a video from the neighborhood. 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.600 Came only won't work and you said that you did 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:57.080 find uh? You said you saw him on one camera, right, 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.320 I said, I was able to view one and run. 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:05.400 That's what I said. Okay, so you have you you 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:09.760 do have other videos that you need to watch. I'm sorry. 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.520 I needed to see what was on those tapes, but 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.199 they wouldn't give them to me. They said it was 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:21.440 an ongoing investigation. So I went back home and I 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:31.600 pushed in other ways. I hit the streets and I 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:37.120 got back on the radio. Women have the power to 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:41.920 transform this world. We can end crime and violence if 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:46.280 we all agree to do one thing to share. My 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:50.200 theory is that the gang bangers, the police, everybody is 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.960 a suspect until they ruled themselves out. I have to 0:14:54.000 --> 0:15:09.160 see the video in order to rule them out whom 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.360 Cortney's homegoing service was at the Cicero Community Center. The 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.840 funeral home wouldn't work because Courtney had too many friends, 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:35.640 so we had people standing room only. Courtney was everyone's 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:40.360 best friend. He had that gift of making everyone feel important. 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.640 Everybody was saying, oh, he was my best friend. He 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:46.000 was my best friend. He was my best friend. He 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:50.760 really was my best friend. I just loved the stories 0:15:50.800 --> 0:16:02.280 people told, like Courtney's friend Jova, was just like that 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:11.920 whole chance. The rapper showed up too. He stayed in 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.320 the back, you know, walking in the room and seeing 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.560 all these familiar faces and all these faces that I 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:21.240 had never seen before, all broken over my friend. You know, 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.040 it just hit me like he was just a good dude, 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.720 funny dude. Just like realizing like that that somebody had 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:33.160 taken him. You know, it was just hard for me 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:39.160 to to deal with that. Ship there. I put Corney 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.240 in a tuxedo. That's what he's wearing his favorite picture. 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.320 So I told myself, I'm gonna make him look just 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:54.200 like that. The service, it was so beautiful and sent Tita, 0:16:54.640 --> 0:17:11.920 she sang for him, We bring up no You're sang 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:14.320 this song, I think by my hello, you're Jackson. Troubles 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:29.000 of the world. We've been a waitly it says, soon 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:31.560 I will be done with the troubles of the world. 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:36.560 You are supposed to cry at birth and rejoice at death, 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.280 because as excited as we are to see a baby, 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:41.560 you don't tell a baby, well, this is gonna be 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:51.600 a tough journey. All of his best friends were his pallbearers. 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:57.080 They wore red bull ties, black vests, and white gloves 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:21.959 as they lowered my son's body into the ground. With 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.480 Courtney's funeral now behind us, I was just left to 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:32.320 sit in this new reality that my baby he was 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:39.879 never coming back. But still I didn't know the worst 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.400 of what had happened to Courtney. That news was winding 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:48.479 this way across the city of Chicago. It started at 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.920 the hospital on the North Side. Someone who worked there 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:55.439 says something to a friend, and that friend talked to 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:59.520 my uncle Marvin, who's on the West side, and Uncle 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:04.719 Marvin called my mom, who's downtown. Uncle Marvin told my 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.760 mom that there was a rumor going around the hospital 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:13.280 that Courtney was combative. What they told him about that 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:17.159 he was being combative. We were shocked with that information. 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.400 We really were. Police told me he collapsed in front 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:22.639 of the station. So when did he all of a 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:27.560 sudden get uncollapsed and become combative? Plus when he arrived 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:32.000 to the hospital, he was already in cardiac arrest. I 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.480 asked the hospital to put together Courtney's medical records so 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:42.159 I can see for myself. Brent and I dropped off 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.200 our daughter at school and headed straight for the hospital 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.560 for the paperwork. I started flipping through the medical records 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.240 before we even left the parking lot. Right away, I 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.399 found a document all right up from the E. M. T. S. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:02.280 It says my son was combative, violent, agitated, a dangerous 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:09.920 to others, and that he was handcuffed. Handcuffed. Police never 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:13.360 told me about any handcuffs, And why would they handcuff 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.320 someone who's dying unless they thought he was a suspect 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:20.400 of some kind. Brent was quiet, but I can tell 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:24.399 he was angry. I know how he is, and I 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:28.840 know he didn't do anything to pose a threat. Had 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:33.359 he been a young a young white guy, nice car, 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:38.320 the situation would have been totally different. I thought about 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.720 those detectives we had just met with. You know, you 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:42.359 see and hear a lot of things, but I'm actually 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.119 really proud of the way the officers conducted themselves. They 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:47.080 were just playing me for food. You know, you can 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.719 take some comfort in that that he was there are 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.720 people there to care, and that they you know, they 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:57.120 didn't help Brennan. I really need to process all of this. 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:01.040 We felt sick to our stomachs, but we knew we 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:03.800 had to eat, so we went to one of our 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:09.200 favorite restaurants, a place called Sweet Maple's Cafe. We drove 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:20.240 there directly from the hospital. Our hearts were on the floor. 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:32.840 We couldn't stop thinking about the police handcuffing our baby. 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.720 Right when we walk in the door, lowing behold. There 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:40.480 she is the e R nurse from the night Courtney died, 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.040 you know, the one who had held my hand and 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.280 comfort of me. She was sitting with an older woman, 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:51.320 her mother. I told my mom, like, oh my god 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:53.199 that I was like, Mom, you remember the story I 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:54.840 was telling you about when a young man got killed. 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:59.160 I'm like, that's that is his parents right there. Clarissa 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.960 Hawkins was work in the e R when Courtney came in. 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:06.040 She was the one who cut the clothes off his body. 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:11.040 I had to ask her, was my baby really handcuffed? 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:18.080 She told me he was. I remember him specifically being 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:22.440 handcuffed to the bed, and so we were like, okay, 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:26.120 where's the police. We need these handcuffs off um and 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:30.600 then maybe maybe like about I said, about a minute, 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.240 and the police walked in and they took off the 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:37.480 They you know, took off the handcuffs. Nurse talking said 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:42.000 when she first saw Courtney, his right hand was handcuffed 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:46.560 to the stretcher, which was a problem because they needed 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:50.080 to transfer him to a hospital bed so they can 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:54.600 work on him and they couldn't. And yeah, it was different. 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:58.400 I don't remember ever saying any other gunshot victims come 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:02.800 in handcuffed. She didn't remember anything about him being combative. 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:06.120 So if if somebody's combattled, we know that when they're 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:07.720 coming down, because that's one of the first thing they 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:10.639 tell us for safety. Oh this person's could battlem so 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:13.359 be ready. We never got that report about him that 0:23:13.400 --> 0:23:16.080 he was combative because then now our security team has 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:18.560 to come and we have to have extra security there. 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:20.920 We have to have medications on board the calm this 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:24.639 person down. My baby must have been so scared he 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:28.000 was all by himself, but it's a comfort to me 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:31.480 that Nurse Hawkins showed him some compassions or something I 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:33.840 do personally. I remember laying my hands on his arm 0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:35.960 and I started praying for him, like so, I don't 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:38.680 know what happened, but please, you know, say this person life. 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:42.320 I started praying. She didn't know anything about Courtney when 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:50.800 she prayed for him, just that he was somebody. We 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:58.800 exchanged numbers and left the restaurant, but the day wasn't 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:05.200 over yet. It wasn't even noon. Next we had to 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:10.680 go to the Tollyard to get Courtney's car back. We've 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:14.680 been getting the runaround for weeks. The BMW was caught 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:19.320 between the police in the impound lot, just stuck in paperwork. 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:24.080 I wanted all of courtney stuff back, the clothes he 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:29.000 was wearing, his book bag, his phone, and most of all, 0:24:29.880 --> 0:24:38.399 I wanted the car babay. Courtney's friend, Christian Hernandez, the 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:41.199 guy who co signed for it, had to meet us 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.760 there to get it released. And the thing that shook 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:48.000 us both is that there was no blood in the car, 0:24:49.400 --> 0:24:53.480 but police said Courtney was shot inside the vehicle. It 0:24:53.680 --> 0:25:03.080 simply didn't make sense we told the BMW home. A 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:05.760 lawyer we found was waiting for us to process the 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:11.400 car back in our garage. The lawyer and his colleague 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:18.080 took hundreds of pictures of the BMW as evidence. I 0:25:18.160 --> 0:25:21.200 foundly felt like someone was taking my son's case seriously. 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:24.440 They wore gloves and put the items from the car 0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:30.159 and ziplock bags and labeled them. I stayed inside the house. 0:25:30.960 --> 0:25:38.679 It was too emotional. I've gone through those pictures of 0:25:38.720 --> 0:25:42.720 what they found. There's lots and lots of broken glass, 0:25:43.240 --> 0:25:47.159 but besides that, it was like looking into my son's world. 0:26:01.640 --> 0:26:04.480 There's a yellow sticky note taped to his driver's side 0:26:04.960 --> 0:26:09.359 that says marketing director. That's the job Courtney was working towards. 0:26:10.040 --> 0:26:14.360 It was his goal, and I promise you looking at that, 0:26:14.520 --> 0:26:19.760 it just broke my heart. There was a lighter, a 0:26:19.880 --> 0:26:25.119 nutter butter wrapper, an empty Gatoray bottle, lemon line, his 0:26:25.240 --> 0:26:29.280 favorite kind, in a parking ticket he was probably hiding 0:26:29.359 --> 0:26:34.359 from me. There's one winter glove, no doubt he lost 0:26:34.359 --> 0:26:41.760 the other one. He was always on the goal. Item 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:48.720 after item sealed up in those plastic bags. There was 0:26:48.760 --> 0:26:51.840 a box for a new iPhone he had just gotten 0:26:51.880 --> 0:26:54.479 that phone a week before he was shot, but the 0:26:54.520 --> 0:27:01.320 phone itself wasn't there. The police still had it a 0:27:01.359 --> 0:27:04.879 few weeks later. When I got it back, the screen 0:27:05.000 --> 0:27:20.760 was cracked and the phone was unlocked. Everybody, every Day, 0:27:23.080 --> 0:27:32.560 No by these Not No Somebody is a co production 0:27:32.640 --> 0:27:36.879 of The Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios, and I 0:27:37.000 --> 0:27:42.199 Heart Radio in association with Tenderfoot TV. I'm Chaparral Wolls. 0:27:42.960 --> 0:27:46.800 This podcast is produced by Alison Flowers and Bill Heally. 0:27:47.480 --> 0:27:51.439 Sarah Guice is our story editor. Ellen Glover is our 0:27:51.440 --> 0:27:56.520 associate producer for The Invisible Institute. Jamie Calvin is executive 0:27:56.560 --> 0:28:01.480 producer for Topic Studios. Maria Zucker and Christie Gressman and 0:28:01.600 --> 0:28:06.320 Leta Mallod are executive producers. Special thanks to Lizzie Jacobs 0:28:07.080 --> 0:28:11.520 for The Intercept. Roger Hodge, Deputy Editor, is supervising producer. 0:28:12.040 --> 0:28:16.560 Sound designed by Carl Scott and Bart Warshaw. Michael Raphael 0:28:16.960 --> 0:28:21.399 is our mixed engineer. Our theme song, Everybody's Something is 0:28:21.440 --> 0:28:24.680 by Chance the Rapper. Original music for the podcast by 0:28:24.760 --> 0:28:29.160 Nate Fox of The Social Experiment and Eric Butler. Additional 0:28:29.240 --> 0:28:34.960 reporting by Sam Stecklo Annie When, Khari Blackburn, Ray Jef Sinclair, 0:28:35.400 --> 0:28:42.600 Henry Adams, Matilda Voyat, Dana Roso's kellerher Frances McDonald, Diana Archmagian, 0:28:43.040 --> 0:28:49.080 Maddie Anderson, Andrew Fan and Rissa Apantaku. Translation support by 0:28:49.120 --> 0:28:53.959 Benny Hernandez Occampo and Emma Perez. Fact checking by Noah 0:28:54.240 --> 0:28:59.640 Are Jenny Special thanks to Chris Rasmussen, Bennett Epstein, Matt Topic, 0:29:00.480 --> 0:29:04.040 David Brelow, and Julie Wolf. 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