Pubdate: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Copyright: 1999 The Sun-Times Co. Contact: http://www.suntimes.com/index/ Author: Lorraine Forte, Staff Reporter 19-YEAR-OLD SHOT, KILLED AFTER COP ALLEGEDLY TACKLED A 19-year-old man was shot and killed late Monday when he and several other alleged drug dealers tackled a Chicago police officer and caused his gun to fire accidentally, authorities said. The man, whom police did not identify, was one of a group of five to six alleged dealers who tackled the officer as he was coming down a stairwell of a public housing high-rise at 4022 S. State, said police spokeswoman Lauri Sanders. Fourteen rocks of crack cocaine and $195 were discovered on the man's body, Sanders said. He was struck in the head with a single bullet and pronounced dead at Cook County Hospital. The other men were being questioned by Area 1 police detectives late Monday. The Stateway Gardens building is not one of the high-rises slated to be torn down in the CHA's sweeping demolition program, an agency spokeswoman said. The incident took place about 6:30 p.m., when the officer and his partner - both plainclothes tactical officers - were investigating complaints of drug dealing in the building's third-floor stairwell, Sanders said. As one officer descended to the landing between the third and fourth floors, Sanders said, he heard several voices yelling "clean it up, clean it up." The officer yelled "Police," drew his gun, and was tackled by five or six men as he came around the stairwell corner onto the landing, Sanders said. The men pushed the officer into the wall of the building, and his gun fired when his arm struck the wall, she said. Neither officer was injured. The officer's partner was coming up from the ground floor when the incident occurred. The Chicago Police Department took over patrols of CHA developments when the CHA's own 270-member force was disbanded at the end of October. With a federal grant, the department is hiring 375 new officers to patrol public housing. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D