Michael Beal, 28, brother of the late Joshua Beal, who was shot and killed Saturday by an off-duty Chicago police officer, was released from custody Thursday after an anonymous donor paid the $50,000 bail, the Chicago Tribune reports. Upon leaving Cook County Jail in Chicago, Michael told reporters how thankful he was for his supporters.
The Indianapolis man is charged with attacking a Chicago officer shortly after his brother was shot. Prosecutors allege that Michael put the officer in a headlock and threatened to kill him after tackling him to the ground.
"He's not this animal that everybody created," Michael's sister Courdney Boxley said. "My mom didn't raise us like that. None of our family is like that."
According to the Tribune, Barry Spector, Michael's lawyer, claimed that his client does not have a criminal record and was not aware that the man who shot his brother was an off-duty police officer.
The protests that followed the incidents resulted in a clash between pro-police supporters and mostly black protesters in support of the Beal family.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune.