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A Chicago police officer said the threat posed by a 20-year-old paraplegic man warranted the officer shooting the man, who later died from his injuries.

But testimony on the second day of the officer’s wrongful death trial in Chicago federal court centered on whether the dead man, Cornelius Ware, actually had a gun at the time of the shooting.

On Aug. 18, 2003 Officer Anthony Blake shot Chicago resident Ware at 8435 S. Loomis Ave., according to the federal civil suit. Ware, who had no use of his legs, died 18 days later, the complaint says.

“When I fired my weapon, I saw a gun in Mr. Ware’s hand,” said Blake. “That’s why I fired… to save the life of myself, my partner.”

Blake, who has worked as a patrol officer for 17 years, told U.S. District Judge Joan H. Lefkow that Ware did have a gun.

But attorneys for Tammy Faye Grant, the plaintiff in the suit, are arguing that Ware had no gun and that Blake “used inappropriate, unwarranted and unjustifiable force” when he shot Ware six times. They contend that someone planted a gun when the police department realized there had been a wrongful shooting.

Throughout the testimony, Grant’s attorney Jonathan I. Loevy referred to the gun as the “alleged weapon.” Blake explained that he would be calling it, “the weapon.”

Blake testified that, after firing shots he called an ambulance for Ware and secured the car, preventing anyone from going near it. At this time, Ware was inside the car with his hand about 12 inches from the gun, which was now lying on the passenger floorboard, Blake said.

“If there was really a gun, even if [Ware] was injured, wouldn’t you have gotten the gun?” asked Loevy.

Loevy asserted that if Ware really had a gun, Blake—concerned for the safety of himself and his partner—would not have left Ware in the car with the gun while they waited for an ambulance.

“I did not want to contaminate that scene,” answered Blake, explaining that Ware was injured and was no longer going back for the weapon.

Blake said he originally stopped Ware for running a stop sign and for driving erratically. During the incident, Blake was working in the Gresham District which is on the South Side.

Attorneys for Ware’s family contend in their complaint that Blake’s actions are part of a larger trend of police misconduct.

“Officers of the Chicago Police Department abuse citizens…on a frequent basis,” the complaint states, “yet the Chicago Police Department makes findings of wrongdoing in a disproportionately small number of cases.”

Opening arguments for the trial began Monday. Ware’s mother, longtime Chicago resident Tammy Faye Grant, testified that her son did not have a gun during the shooting and did not exit the car upon police request because he was paraplegic.

Later this week, Ware’s attorneys say they will call to the witness stand Ware’s 16-year-old brother, an independent eye-witness and firefighters and a paramedic who were at the scene of the incident.