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Kyle Rittenhouse looks back as Susan Hughes, the great aunt of Anthony Huber, enters the courtroom during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. Anthony Huber was one of two men who Rittenhouse killed on Aug. 25, 2020. | AP

Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who said he took an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to Kenosha last year to help protect property during violent protests against racial injustice, said that Joseph Rosenbaum “asked very bluntly to shoot him” and took a few “false steppings … to entice someone to do something.”

KENOSHA, Wis. — The first man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse on the streets of Kenosha was acting “belligerently” that night but did not appear to pose a serious threat to anyone, a witness testified Friday at Rittenhouse’s murder trial.

Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who said he took an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to Kenosha last year to help protect property during violent protests against racial injustice, said that Joseph Rosenbaum “asked very bluntly to shoot him” and took a few “false steppings … to entice someone to do something.”

Lackowski got up from the witness stand and demonstrated what he meant by “false stepping.” He took a small step and slight lurch forward, then stopped.

But Lackowski, who was called as a witness by the prosecution, said he considered Rosenbaum a “babbling idiot” and turned his back and ignored him. He admitted he didn’t see everything that went on between Rittenhouse and Rosenbaum, including their final clash.

In other testimony, the prosecution suffered a potential blow when Rosenbaum’s fiancee, Kariann Swart, disclosed that he was on medication for bipolar disorder and depression but didn’t fill his prescriptions because the local pharmacy was boarded up as a result of the unrest — information Rittenhouse’s lawyers could use in their bid to portray Rosenbaum as the aggressor that night.

The judge allowed the defense to elicit testimony about Rosenbaum’s mental illness because prosecutors brought up mention of medication. Had prosecutors not touched on the topic, it is unlikely the judge would have let the defense bring it up.

On the day he was killed, Rosenbaum had been released from a Milwaukee hospital. The jury was told that much, but not why he had been admitted — after a suicide attempt.

Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with shooting three men, two fatally, in the summer of 2020. The one-time police youth cadet was 17 when he went to Kenosha with an AR-style rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to safeguard property from the demonstrations that broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer.

Rittenhouse is white, as were those he shot.

Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed, while his lawyer has argued that he acted in self-defense, suggesting among other things that Rittenhouse feared his weapon would be taken away and used against him.

On Thursday, witnesses testified that a “hyperaggressive” Rosenbaum angrily threatened to kill Rittenhouse that night and that Rosenbaum was gunned down after he chased Rittenhouse and lunged for the young man’s rifle.

A state crime lab DNA analyst testified Friday that she tested swabs from the barrel guard from Rittenhouse’s rifle and did not find DNA from Rosenbaum or the other man killed that night, Anthony Huber. But Amber Rasmussen said she received no swabs from the actual barrel and would have no way of knowing if Rosenbaum touched it.

Under cross-examination by Rittenhouse attorney Corey Chirafasi, Rasmussen was shown still images of Huber and Rittenhouse and agreed they appeared to depict Huber touching the rifle. She also acknowledged that the absence of Huber’s DNA on the gun doesn’t mean he didn’t touch it.

In other testimony Friday, a Kenosha officer said that because of the chaos after the shooting and other gunfire that night, police didn’t realize Rittenhouse was the gunman as he approached a police vehicle.

Video of police allowing Rittenhouse to pass, even as people were shouting that he had just shot people, was widely circulated and cited by those who say he got preferential treatment because he is white.

However, Officer Pep Moretti said he drew his weapon and used pepper spray on Rittenhouse, regarding him initially as a threat because he was disobeying commands and advancing with a gun.

Rittenhouse was not arrested at the time. He returned to his home in Antioch, Illinois, and turned himself in the next day.

Moretti described the area at the time as a “war zone,” adding: “The city was burning and on fire and we’re just outnumbered and completely surrounded.”

In their testimony, Lackowski and another veteran, former Army infantryman Ryan Balch, both used military terminology that reflected their backgrounds as they spoke about patrolling the streets of Kenosha against protest violence.

Lackowski referred to “areas of occupation,” talked about taking up his “post” in a parking lot, and said he was trained in “shout, shove, show, shoot.”

“You shout, you shove, you show your firearm and you shoot,” Lackowski explained.

Balch used the term “plate carrier,” which he explained means body armor. He gave a detailed explanation of the differences between full metal jacket bullets and hollow points and talked about ensuring the armed citizens in Kenosha that night worked in pairs to protect each other.

According to testimony, Rosenbaum, 36, was unarmed and did not hurt anyone that night. During the clash with Rittenhouse, he threw a clear plastic hospital bag that he had been given to hold his toiletries.

Rosenbaum’s fiancee testified that hours before he was killed, she told him not to go downtown because of the unrest.

“When he left, he said that he would see me in the morning and he was all excited and ‘I love you.’ It was a pleasant visit,” Swart said.

After getting a call from the medical examiner that Rosenbaum was dead, Swart said, she fell to her knees and cried and then found a video online showing him dying: “I broke down and I can’t get that image out of my head.”

In the morning, Swart said, she went to the spot at a car dealership where Rosenbaum lay on the ground after being shot. “And I put my hand in it and my hand was wet with his blood,” she said. “And that’s again when I collapsed on the ground.”

Rosenbaum’s killing has emerged as one of the most crucial moments that night because it set in motion the bloodshed that followed moments later.

Rittenhouse shot and killed Huber, a 26-year-old protester seen on bystander video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard. Rittenhouse then wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, who had a gun in his hand as he stepped toward the young man.

Rittenhouse could get life in prison if convicted in the case that has stirred furious debate over self-defense, vigilantism, the right to bear arms and the racial unrest that erupted around the U.S. after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other cases like it.

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Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin; Forliti from Minneapolis. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan.

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Nicholas Griffo’s complaint led to a whistleblower investigation that found widespread problems with the way the government handles GI Bill claims. | Joed Viera / Sun-Times

Bureaucratic errors could mean reservists got shorted on service time needed to qualify to transfer valuable college benefits to their kids. The whistleblower says ‘hundreds of thousands’ of veterans might have wrongly lost out.

A long-secret investigation of a whistleblower’s complaint has found widespread and longstanding problems with the federal government’s administration of the GI Bill that could be at fault for veterans and their families having been denied money they were entitled to for college.

The investigation found that, because of bad record-keeping, some vets were shortchanged on their service time — a key element in qualifying to transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to their children to pay for school.

In a series of reports since 2019, the Chicago Sun-Times has documented how such bureaucratic errors led to the children of long-serving veterans losing out on Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for college. In some cases, families were told they had to repay college money the government already paid on their behalf.

The Defense Department investigation into whistleblower Nicholas D. Griffo’s complaint was completed in January 2020. But the federal agency never released its findings. Griffo provided the report to the Sun-Times, saying he was frustrated that the government hadn’t made it public after 22 months.

Among the report’s findings:

“Known gaps” exist in service data for reservists from all branches as well as National Guard members because the various military branches failed to properly log some active-duty periods in their records.
The errors have meant those veterans were shorted on their qualifying service time toward valuable Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits they’re entitled to.

The federal Department of Veterans Affairs relies on service records to determine whether a veteran qualifies for benefits including the college entitlement. So it’s likely that vets wrongly have been denied benefits they’d earned, the investigation found.

The report doesn’t say how many veterans might have wrongly lost out.

Griffo says “hundreds of thousands” of vets could be affected.

“These gaps have been known since September 2009 and the Department of Defense has been working on a continuous basis to close those gaps so active-service data history is complete and accurate,” William H. Booth, the Defense Department’s human resources director, wrote to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel on Jan. 24, 2020, in a letter accompanying the never-released investigative report.

The Defense Human Resources Activity Headquarters conducted the investigation at the request of the Office of Special Counsel.

The Sun-Times has reported on numerous veterans who were told they could count on Post-9/11 GI Bill money for their kids’ college only to discover years later they couldn’t transfer those benefits to dependents.

Most had agreed to stay on longer in the military — typically for four extra years — to qualify to transfer their GI Bill benefit, which covers up to four years of tuition, housing and books.

In some cases, their children already had been getting money for tuition and other expenses, only to be told later that the veteran-parent’s service record was lacking — and the government was now demanding they pay back the money they’d paid toward tuition and other college expenses.

Two former DePaul University students were among those who had their college money canceled — and got debt-collection notices from the government demanding they repay $20,000 to $70,000.

Griffo, a veterans claims examiner since 2008 at the VA’s regional office in Buffalo, New York, says that, for years, certain types of active duty in the reserves — for training, operational support and “special work” — wasn’t counted as it should as qualifying time toward Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

Vets often don’t realize there are problems with the records of their service time, which can be complicated, especially when they include active-duty military and the reserves.

“They didn’t know they’re being screwed,” Griffo says. “They trusted the VA.”

He says the mistakes were compounded by VA employees and benefits contractors not recognizing the errors — and by a culture he says put handling claims quickly above all else.

Vets seeking information “can get five different answers from two different people at the call center,” Griffo says. “They want you to feel good and get the hell off the phone.”

Defense officials said in the report the military is transitioning to an online portal that lets service members keep better tabs on their records, which they said should cut down on errors.

Asked about the long-withheld whistleblower investigation, the Department of Defense and the VA both said they’re looking into it.

Griffo, 51, has 20 years of qualifying service with the Navy and Navy Reserves, including two years on active duty in the 1990s. He says that his service and his work as a Navy career counselor — as well as his fight to overturn his own denied GI Bill claim — gave him unusual insight into the problems at the Defense Department and the VA.

He says he flagged the issues for his VA bosses as early as 2008 but grew frustrated as time dragged on and problems continued.

Griffo occasionally has butted heads with his bosses over mistakes he saw that hurt veterans. Though his performance review in October 2020 had only “exceptional” or “fully successful” marks and praised his “high proficiency in his quality of work,” the VA has notified him it’s planning to fire him over what it describes as improperly processing claims. Griffo denies doing anything wrong and says the move is in retaliation for his complaints.

Joed Viera / Sun-Times
VA whistleblower Nicholas Griffo: Vets “didn’t know they’re being screwed. They trusted the VA.”

Though his complaint narrowly focused on record-keeping problems for reservists, some vets say Griffo’s portrayal of an opaque, at times dysfunctional bureaucracy fits their experiences.

“It seems like there’s just a total disorganization,” says Rebecca Dougherty, whose father served 20 years on active duty and in the reserves with the Marines.

Years after the VA authorized paying for her to attend Boston University on her dad’s Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, Dougherty got a debt notice from the government, saying he didn’t qualify after all and demanding she repay $87,000. Her younger sister got a similar demand for $27,000 for her education at the University of South Carolina.

Provided
Rebecca Dougherty and her father, Dale Saran. Dougherty still hasn’t been able to resolve a debt she received after the VA claimed she didn’t qualify to receive her dad’s Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit.

Dougherty’s father, saying he did qualify, tried to correct what he says were errors on his service record by going to a Navy board that hears such cases. Dougherty says the problem still hasn’t been fully resolved.

John Capizzi, a retired Navy commander with 20 years on active duty, fought a similar battle after finding out his planned transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill money to his daughters was denied because the VA said he retired six months too early.

Kristina Windsor / Sun-Times
John Capizzi with daughters Raegan, 14 (left), and Cambria, 16.

The Scottsdale, Arizona, veteran eventually prevailed but says he’s troubled by the hassles other families are still facing.

The Navy knows there are problems with the records and what vets were told, Capizzi says. “It’s just that nobody wants to fall on the sword,” he says. “Nobody wants it to be on their watch.”

Tim McHugh, a Virginia lawyer and former Army paratrooper, says he has seen numerous cases in which clerical errors derailed people’s ability to tap GI Bill benefits.

“The veteran is left totally at a loss of how to fix it,” McHugh says. “These are folks who trusted the government and trusted the military to do right by them.”

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The Gophers’ offensive line is the Big Ten’s best. | Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

The picks are in for Illinois-Minnesota, Navy-Notre Dame, Iowa-Northwestern, Michigan State-Purdue, Auburn-Texas A&M and more.

When former Hillcrest running back Mar’Keise Irving arrived at Minnesota, the nickname “Bucky” was among his personal belongings.

His Gophers teammates wouldn’t stand for it. Not with a certain bitter rival’s mascot going by the name of Bucky Badger.

Thus, “Bucko” Irving was born.

Gotta love college football, don’t you? It’s always so colorful.

Illinois (+15) at No. 20 Minnesota (11 a.m., ESPN2) is the continuation of an unexpected coming-out party for Irving and fellow freshman running back Ky Thomas. It’s also a chance to recognize the excellence of a best-in-the-Big Ten offensive line that’s the main reason the Gophers are in the initial College Football Playoff rankings and in the driver’s seat as they seek their first West division title.

(Note: They weren’t ranked in the latest AP Top 25, but we’ll be using CFP rankings in this column for the rest of the season.)

Thomas is coming off back-to-back 100-yard games. Irving is, too, and scored two touchdowns in last week’s steamrolling of Northwestern. Even linebacker Derik LeCaptain got in on the action against the Wildcats, rushing for a 20-yard score on his first career carry.

It’s likely none of those three would’ve touched the ball on offense if not for the season-ending injuries that have knocked veteran running backs Mohamed Ibrahim, Trey Potts and Bryce Williams out of the equation.

Why have the Gophers been able to withstand those setbacks and lead the West at 4-1 (6-2 overall)? Center John Michael Schmitz (Homewood-Flossmoor), guard Blaise Andries and 6-9, 380-pound tackle Daniel Faalele keep destroying anything that moves.

“Some of our best players are our offensive linemen,” coach P.J. Fleck said, “and you’ve got to build around your best players.”

The Illini defense — like Northwestern’s, well below average against the run — is going to get a face full of see-if-you-can-stop-this no matter who’s in the Gophers’ backfield.

“We do what we can do,” Fleck said. “We don’t just sit there and put the square peg into the round hole.”

Round Pegs by 14, bucko.

OTHER WEEK 10 PICKS

Air Force (-2 1/2 ) vs. Army (10:30 a.m., Ch. 2): Some early service-academy football never misses the spot. Air Force, which already smacked Navy around, can win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy with a “W” in its first neutral-site game against Army since 1965. Falcons, 31-24, in Arlington, Texas.

Navy (+21) at No. 10 Notre Dame (2:30 p.m., Ch. 5): The Midshipmen won a game without completing a single pass last week, but this isn’t one of Navy’s stronger running teams and isn’t as strong a squad overall as the Irish are accustomed to encountering in this respectful rivalry. You know what that means: Upset! No, not really. Irish, 34-10.

No. 3 Michigan State (-3) at Purdue (2:30 p.m., Ch. 7): The Spartans’ Kenneth Walker III is the nation’s leading rusher and ought to be getting more Heisman buzz than he is. He won’t completely go off on the Boilermakers, who are solid, if unappreciated, defensively, but, man, the dude’s nose for the end zone. Sniff, sniff — MSU, 24-20.

No. 13 Auburn (+4 1/2 ) at No. 14 Texas A&M (2:30 p.m., Ch. 2): Can Tigers QB Road Bo Nix get it done against a rested Aggies defense that might be the SEC’s second-best behind Georgia’s? Yes, in case you were wondering, Road Bo Nix and Home Bo Nix are different people. A&M, 24-17.

No. 22 Iowa (-12) at Northwestern (6 p.m., BTN): Pat Fitzgerald’s record against Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes? Try 9-6 on for size. But note: When the Wildcats do lose in this series, they lose big — by an average of 18.2 points under Fitzgerald. Hawkeyes, 28.2-10.

No. 4 Oregon (-7) at Washington (6:30 p.m., Ch. 7): The Huskies are excellent at defending against the pass. Here’s what else they’re good at: nothing. The Ducks, meanwhile, need to back up the playoff committee’s belief in them or it’ll go away in a hurry. Is this a chalky week or what? Ducks by 10.

My favorite favorite: No. 5 Ohio State (-15) at Nebraska (11 a.m., Fox-32): As my favorite favorite last week, the Buckeyes played terrible pass defense, left an egregious number of points on the field and — so sue me — failed to completely grind Penn State into dust. Cue: their most thorough performance of the season.

My favorite underdog: Missouri (+40) at No. 1 Georgia (11 a.m., ESPN): The Bulldogs will do whatever they want against Mizzou’s astonishingly bad defense, but what coach Kirby Smart really wants is to keep his best guys healthy and get a bunch of backups into the game. Run the ball, drain the clock, get out with an easy “W” — just not a 40-point one.

Last week: 6-3 straight-up, 4-5 vs. the spread. That’s back-to-back 4-5s, my first two losing weeks of the season. Alas, there is no bottom to my well of shame.

Season to date: 56-28 straight-up, 47-36-1 vs. the spread.

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Diana Ross performs onstage at the 61st annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center on Feb. 10, 2019 in Los Angeles. | Getty Images for The Recording A

“Thank You” is a twinkling, blissful and bubbly wave of optimism, like being invited to a champagne party on a puffy cloud.

“Thank You,” by Diana Ross (Decca Records/Universal Music Group)

Diana Ross’ first album in 15 years cuts through our present cynicism and slices past the despair. “Thank You” is a warm hug of music, less a tightly constructed pop vehicle, than a mood.

“It never rains forever,” Ross sings in one song. On another: “Turn it up/And give love a chance.” On a third she asks: “What if we could find a way/To laugh, love and pray?”

“Thank You” is a twinkling, blissful and bubbly wave of optimism, like being invited to a champagne party on a puffy cloud. Our hostess is full of goodwill, her voice warm and welcoming. There’s no velvet rope. All are welcome. “No matter what the question/I know the answer/The answer’s always love,” she sing.

AP
This cover image released by Decca Records/Universal Music Group shows “Thank You” by Diana Ross.

The 13-track album finds Ross at the intersection of ’70s disco, ’80s electronica, ’90s house and the production savvy of the 2020s. There are two speeds — twinkling ballads and bootie-shakers.

But don’t get the wrong idea about the up-tempo ones. There’s nothing raunchy here. The song “Let’s Do It” isn’t about bedding anyone: “Let’s do it,” she sings. “Let’s make life better together.”

With “In Your Heart,” Ross urges us to “reach out and just touch somebody” – a nod to her 1970 hit “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand).” She revisits the opening lyrics of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” for “Beautiful Love.”

“Thank You” is Ross’ first collection of original songs since 1999’s “Every Day Is a New Day.” Cynics might dismiss it as overly sentimental, but is that a serious crime? She wants to say thank you, but we should be the ones thanking her.

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Travell Miller was killed shielding his daughter from gunfire Sept. 1 on the West Side, family says. He had moved to the neighborhood five days earlier. | Provided

Avanta Ware was arrested Friday afternoon in Wisconsin, police said. He will be extradited to Cook County to face charges in the murder of 33-year-old Travell Miller, who family say shielded his 7-year-old daughter from gunfire.

A teen has been charged with fatally shooting a father who was driving his daughter to school on the West Side in September.

Avanta Ware, 18, was arrested Friday afternoon in Wisconsin, Chicago police said. He will be extradited to Cook County to face charges in the murder of 33-year-old Travell Miller.

Miller’s father said he was relieved to hear about the arrest. “This gives a slight ease to my family who’s been sitting over here hurting,” Joseph Gilmore said. “It lightens the blow a little bit.”

Travell Miller was gunned down Sept. 1 while stopped in traffic on Chicago Avenue at Sacramento Avenue. Ware allegedly got out of another car, walked up and opened fire.

Miller was hit four times as he bent over to protect his 7-year-old daughter, who was in the passenger seat and was uninjured, according to family. They said police were investigating if the shooting stemmed from road rage.

Police identified Ware as the gunman in late September and charged him in Miller’s murder.

Ware was also wanted for two counts of carjacking in Berwyn.

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As the season of giving is approaching, the Chicago Cubs were gifted starting pitcher Wade Miley from the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. The Cubs claimed Miley off waivers on Friday after the starting pitcher was outrighted by the Reds. The Reds were facing a deadline as they needed to act on Miley’s $10 million team […] Chicago Cubs News: Team claims Wade Miley off waivers – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Wade Miley watches a throw during the first inning of the team’s baseball game against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) ORG XMIT: CXC101 | Charles Rex Arbogast, AP Photos

Miley was 12-7 with 3.37 ERA in 28 games last season.

The Cubs made their first acquisition off the offseason on Friday, claiming left-hander Wade Miley off waivers from the Reds. Miley had a good year in Cincinnati going 12-7 with a strong 3.37 ERA in 28 starts. The Reds, like the Cubs last offseason, are heavily cutting their payroll allowing Miley to walk for nothing.

The left-hander has pitched well against the Cubs throughout his career, going 9-4 with a 3.84 lifetime ERA against his new squad.

Miley, 34, had a $10 million club option attached to his deal he signed his two-year deal in 2019. The Cubs would pick up that option, adding a very reasonable one-year deal for a pitcher who has a consistent track record.

He could also be a valuable sign-and-flip candidate at next year’s trade deadline.

The southpaw joins the mix in the Cubs rotation for next season with Kyle Hendricks, Alec Mills, Adbert Alzolay, Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson.

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Bears right tackle Larry Borom blocks Sunday. | Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

“There was zero hesitation from him,” offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said.

Stuck on injured reserve with a high-ankle sprain suffered Week 1, rookie right tackle Larry Borom worked on his technique in slow motion. He moved the furniture out of his living room and practiced keeping his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage. He recorded the actions with his phone and sent it to offensive line coach Juan Castillo, who evaluated the movements over the past seven weeks.

“It’s becoming natural,” Castillo said, “even though you’re not going full speed.”

Borom got to full speed quickly — and then hyperdrive.

The Missouri alum returned to Bears practice Oct. 27 — and four days later was blocking 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa in his first NFL start. The 49ers moved Bosa over from his natural side specifically to test the rookie. The Steelers could do the same with all-world edge rusher T.J. Watt, who Borom said “can do things other people can’t” because of his strength and speed.

“It didn’t really faze me that much,” Borom said of his first start. “I knew I had to fall back on my technique and things I’ve been taught, and that’s what I did.”

Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor liked what he saw.

“There was zero hesitation from him,” he said. “There was zero fear from him. When we called quick protections he went and was aggressive and got his hands on him. I thought for the scenario he went through of missing so much time and having played so little NFL football, to be up against such a good player and play the way he did was very good. You just have to expect it’s only gonna get better.”

If he does, the fifth-round pick can be their starting right tackle for the next four years. He’d make an affordable tandem with second-round pick Teven Jenkins, who is recovering from back surgery, at left tackle. Jenkins was spotted running up the Bears’ training hill during practice Friday, an uptick in public activity from recent weeks. The Bears haven’t ruled out his return from IR at some point this season.

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Picked in the second round out of Illinois, Dosunmu was joining a deep backcourt and looking like he would be getting minutes in the G-League. Eights games in, however, he’s doing all he can to be another Chicago basketball player bringing that fearless attitude to the court, and going off-script the entire way.

The script was handed to Ayo Dosunmu on draft night.

Actually, it was rolled up and slapped across his face while the former Illinois standout was falling out of the first round and into the second.

It was a worst-case scenario playing out in front of his eyes.

That’s because there’s a history with second-round picks, whether they are selected at No. 38 — like Dosunmu was — or they slide further.

Come into camp, work hard, enjoy life on the second or third team, then prepare to see minutes in the G League while going back and forth with the NBA roster. Marko Simonovic, selected 44th overall in 2020, is following that script right now, as did Paul Zipser, Cameron Bairstow, Eric Murphy . . . go right down the list.

But here’s the thing about Chicago kids: They don’t follow scripts or assumed expectations. Life imitates the basketball court. They often adlib. Rules and rims are made to be broken.

And while his time in Champaign might have fine-tuned Dosunmu for the NBA, Chicago raised him.

”It’s just the way we are here,” Dosunmu said. ”You know how the Chicago Public League is, the state championship is, how many good high schools there are. I think that, in itself — the Bogans, the Morgan Parks, the Simeons, the Whitney Youngs competing day-in and day-out, looking to be the best — it just makes Chicago kids that much tougher and then tougher to deal with by outsiders.

”It’s hard to define us or put us in a box unless you’re from here.”

And Dosunmu is ”from here.”

Described as ”fearless” from the first day of training camp by Bulls coach Billy Donovan and teammates, Dosunmu — who played at Morgan Park — has defied the path most second-round picks follow in their rookie season and is becoming a key bench presence in the rotation for a 6-2 team.

That was on full display in the Bulls’ last two games.

In a 19-point comeback Monday in Boston, Dosunmu played a season-high 22 minutes, scored 14 points, brought much-needed energy to the court and even made a clutch three-pointer with 6:54 left that gave the Bulls the lead.

On Wednesday in Philadelphia, despite struggling on offense, Dosunmu still sank a three-pointer in the fourth quarter that pulled the Bulls within four after they had trailed by as many as 18.

”It’s not surprising,” veteran forward DeMar DeRozan said of Dosunmu’s emergence. ”I remember watching him in college and the toughness he brought. In joining the team and getting to know him, the humbleness he carries himself with, along with the toughness, it’s definitely one of a kind. He’s definitely the epitome of a Chicago kid. You throw him out there on the road, he does something like he [did in Boston]. It shows who he is as a basketball player.”

Calling him ”a Chicago kid” is the ultimate compliment a teammate can hand Dosunmu right now.

”If you look at all the Chicago greats, the attitude they play with, the swagger they have, I think it just goes back to that,” Dosunmu said. ”Just being confident in yourself, not backing down from anyone, being fearless, not afraid to fail. It’s about going out there [and being] willing to compete against anyone at a high level.”

Whether that means old-school Chicago standouts such as Isiah Thomas, Mo Cheeks and Mark Aguirre or current players such as Derrick Rose, Patrick Beverley and Anthony Davis, Dosunmu feels he owes it to them and the city to carry that torch.

That’s why when Davis called Chicago the real ”mecca of basketball” a few years back, he was speaking the truth in Dosunmu’s eyes.

”I mean . . . look at the last 10, 20, 30 years and longer — I would say it has to be the mecca,” Dosunmu said. ”If not one, then right there at the top. There’s so many guys that have made it out to the highest level.”

That’s where Dosunmu would like to be someday, too. But before he can fly, he needs to crawl and then walk — steps he has been skipping a bit so far.

The Bulls have a crowded backcourt, and Dosunmu has to share time with Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, Alex Caruso and Troy Brown Jr. He actually has been stealing minutes from Brown, but that doesn’t mean it will stay that way.

Then there’s the Coby White factor. White is starting to take contact and test his surgically repaired left shoulder, and his return will affect Dosunmu directly.

That means Dosunmu very well might have to take a step back, collect some dust on the bench and get his minutes with the Windy City Bulls in the G League to keep a rhythm, like the original script read.

Just don’t count on it.

”Yeah, I get why everyone thought that would be my path, but my mindset was different,” Dosunmu said. ”My mindset was it didn’t matter how it usually goes [with second-round picks] or what people thought, I know what I have to do to help a team win. I know how to compete, I know I have the brains and I know what I need to do and continue to do.

”I never really cared about what people said because I understood where I belonged in the draft, what my capabilities were, and I just believe in me.”

Chicago kids usually do.

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Sun-Times file photo

Josue Mendoza Barrera, 26, terrorized the family after he followed their Dodge Charger in his minivan when they left a Walgreen’s parking lot following a Chicago White Sox game, prosecutors said Friday.

A family was terrorized by a gun-toting man who chased them and hit their Dodge Charger, causing them to get into a crash that left the 16-year-old daughter dead, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.

Josue Mendoza Barrera started tailing the family in his minivan when they pulled out of a Northwest Side Walgreens after dropping off a friend who had just accompanied them to the White Sox game that night on Aug. 3, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.

Soon after, Barrera, 26, pulled up beside the Charger at a red light and stared at the family while he racked the slide of a “large firearm,” Murphy said.

Fearing a potential carjacking, the patriarch of the family sped away, but was relentlessly pursued by Barrera as he tried to find safety at the Grand Central District police station, Murphy said.

During the chase, Ashley Sanchez, 16, called police and stayed on the phone with them until her father crashed, Murphy said.

Despite the patriarch driving at speeds of as high as 92 mph and at one point making a three-point turn in traffic to lose Berrera, Berrera kept up with the Charger and struck it with his minivan, sending the family spinning into a parked semitrailer in the 4500 block of West Armitage Avenue, Murphy said.

Berrara allegedly stopped briefly after the crash, but then drove off without calling for help.

Sanchez suffered a severe head injury as a result of the crash and was pronounced dead at Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

“A 16-year-old girl’s night out started with going to a Sox game and ended with her dying in terror during this high-speed chase,” Murphy told Judge Susana Ortiz.

Chicago police
Josue Mendoza Barrera

Surveillance video from the Walgreens showed Berrera drinking in the business’ parking lot before he chased the family, Murphy said.

An hour before the crash, Berrera’s face was captured at a liquor store making a purchase, allowing police to use facial recognition technology to identity him, Murphy said.

Detectives then learned Berrera was wanted on a warrant for a 2020 driving offense in Lemont, Murphy said. When he was arrested Wednesday in the southwest suburb, Berrera was allegedly driving a BMW with the same license plates that were on the minivan at the time of the August crash.

Berrera’s license is currently suspended because of a 2016 DUI charge and he has previously been charged with other driving offenses, Murphy said.

Berrera, of Belmont Cragin, was initially charged with reckless homicide, but prosecutors dropped that charge Friday and charged him with first-degree murder, as well as leaving the scene of an accident and speeding.

Berrera wasn’t identified “by anyone on the scene at the time of the incident” as being the driver of the minivan, nor was there video of the crash, an assistant public defender said.

Berrara works as a “digital laser operator” for a Lemont-based direct mail company, the defense attorney added.

Before ordering him held without bail, Ortiz said, “I do not believe [Berrera] should be out on the streets in any way, shape or form.”

Berrera is expected back in court Nov. 23.

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