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Cook County\u2019s top prosecutor abruptly dropped a felony case against a DePaul University student accused of spitting on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent over the weekend at O\u2019Hare Airport.<\/p>\n
In an arrest report, Chicago police said Brett Heier \u201cintentionally and forcefully\u201d spat on the ICE agent<\/a> Sunday while leaving Terminal 2 at O\u2019Hare. Heier, 20, was charged with felony aggravated battery to a peace officer and was ordered released pending trial during his first court appearance Wednesday. <\/p>\n By Thursday evening, Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Eileen O\u2019Neill Burke had \u201cpersonally reviewed the case and directed prosecutors to dismiss the charge,\u201d according to a statement released by her office. The unusual move comes as O\u2019Neill Burke faces mounting calls to investigate and prosecute immigration agents who carried out an aggressive deportation campaign in the Chicago area.<\/p>\n The statement didn\u2019t provide an explanation for dismissing the case, saying only that O\u2019Neill Burke\u2019s office \u201ccontinually evaluates evidence and reviews cases presented to us by law enforcement to ensure charging decisions are appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n Heier\u2019s lawyer, Adam Sheppard, had insisted the case was overblown in an interview with the Sun-Times. Sheppard argued that Heier was only accused of spitting on the agent\u2019s shoe, and it may have been unintentional.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is comforting to know that the Cook County State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office will exercise proper prosecutorial discretion,\u201d Sheppard said after the case was dropped.<\/p>\n The alleged spitting incident at O\u2019Hare came a week after President Donald Trump announced he was sending ICE agents to airports<\/a> across the country to assist with security amid the fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n The resulting government shutdown has led to long lines at airports and staffing issues among Transportation Security Administration agents, who went unpaid from mid-February until Trump signed an executive order giving them back-pay<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n Employees of other DHS agencies, including ICE and Customs and Border Protection, have continued to earn paychecks because they\u2019re being funded by Trump\u2019s domestic policy bill passed over the summer.<\/p>\n The shutdown was prompted by Democrats\u2019 unanswered calls for reforms after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot during an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota earlier this year.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill Burke has said she\u2019s legally handcuffed when it comes to targeting the feds who carried out the earlier campaign in the Chicago area \u2014 even as legal efforts have been launched to install a special prosecutor<\/a> in her office to do just that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n