CHICAGO (AP) – The public got its first look at videos related to last week’s fatal Chicago police shooting of an 18-year-old suspect in a car theft.
Police Supt. Eddie Johnson has said dashcam and body camera videos suggest violations of departmental policy in the shooting of Paul O’Neal, who autopsy results show died of a gunshot wound to the back.
The release scheduled for Friday morning marks the first time the city will make public such material in a fatal police shooting under a new policy that calls for it to do so within 60 days.
The policy is part of an effort to restore public confidence in the department after video released last year showing a black teenager shot 16 times by a white officer sparked protests and led to the ouster of the former police superintendent.
The head of the agency that investigates Chicago police misconduct says video related to an officer’s fatal shooting of an 18-year-old suspect in a car theft is “shocking and disturbing.”
The Independent Police Review Authority plans to release the video at 11 a.m. Friday in the shooting death of Paul O’Neal, whose autopsy results showed died of a gunshot wound to the back. Police Supt. Eddie Johnson stripped three officers of their police powers after officials said a preliminary determination concluded they had violated department policy in the July 28 shooting.
Police have announced that a body camera of an officer involved in the shooting was not recording at the time.
On Friday morning before the video’s release, IPRA chief administrator Sharon Fairley put out a statement saying the video was being released because doing so won’t jeopardize the agency’s investigation.
Video related to the fatal shooting of a car theft suspect shows Chicago police officers firing on a moving vehicle that then strikes a squad car before an occupant runs out.
The video made public Friday shows officers pursuing the man through a yard and over a fence while shots are heard ringing out. Officers then cuff the suspect, who is face down on the ground with blood on the back of his white shirt.
The recording catches the car being pursued by officers as it blows through a stop sign and smashes head-on into another police cruiser.
More than a half-dozen officers are seen racing between houses into backyards in pursuit of a person who fled from the car.
One officer needs help scaling a wooden gate, while the officer wearing the body camera is unable to climb over and walks around to the rear of another home where other officers have the suspect on the ground.
One officer can be heard saying “I shot. I don’t know who was shooting in the alley.”
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson says the department is looking at training and tactics after an officer fatally shot an 18-year-old suspect last week.
Johnson said Friday that he applauds release of videos related to the shooting death of Paul O’Neal on July 28. The agency that investigates police misconduct made the videos public Friday morning. Johnson praised the Independent Police Review Authority for being “transparent and open” and said the department would fully cooperate with the investigation.
Autopsy results show O’Neal was shot in the back. Though the videos show officers saying they thought O’Neal fired at them, no gun was ever found.
Johnson has stripped three officers of police powers. He says the department will look at how police agencies elsewhere deal with such situations and promised that his department will be “open and honest” and will work with the community to implement solutions.
The head of a Chicago-based black youth group says the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old suspected car thief is an “example of systemic violence with policing in Chicago.”
Charlene Carruthers is national director of the Black Youth Project 100. She says the shooting also proves that even police body cameras do not prevent them from shooting and killing a young black man.
Video released Friday by the city’s Independent Police Review Authority shows officers firing into a vehicle driven by Paul O’Neal, then handcuffing the blood-covered suspect following a foot chase.
Carruthers says Chicago doesn’t “have any real systems to hold police accountable,” adding that she does not trust IPRA or the justice system in Cook County to “bring justice for Paul or his family.”
It was the city’s first release of video of a fatal police shooting under a new Chicago policy that calls for it to be made public within 60 days.