Two Chicago police officers have been relieved of their police powers after department brass made the preliminary determination that they violated policy when they fired their weapons in an incident that killed an 18-year-old man, a police spokesman said Friday night. He died from a gunshot wound to the back.
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Four police officers were wearing body cameras when three of the officers opened fire on an 18-year-old man Thursday night in the South Shore neighborhood.
“These police officers decided, for whatever reason, they were going to play judge, jury and executioner”, the attorney added.
Johnson said the Police Department is committed to transparency and accountability, and that it can only be as strong as the people’s faith in it.
Three officers involved in the incident have been stripped of their powers, after Johnson said he had questions about the shooting after reviewing that video this weekend.
In July, IPRA released data showing a decline in Chicago police shootings while the use of electric stun guns, or Tasers, was up, suggesting training in non-lethal force was beginning to take hold in the department, which faces a federal investigation over its use of force and complaints of racial profiling. Investigators are still reviewing the actions of a third officer involved, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Friday.
At the moment police authorities are conducting various forms of internal investigations but one of those has already shown that the body camera of the officer, who fired the lethal shot, was not recording.
The driver tried to flee and sideswiped a police auto and a vehicle parked near the scene.
Paul O’Neal’s murder was as a result of police officers spotting the deceased in a Jaguar convertible presumably stolen.
Johnson has admitted that the three officers may have violated departmental policies by their actions during their confrontation with O’Neal.
For the first time in their brief history of use by the Chicago Police Department, officer-worn body cameras captured video of a fatal police shooting last week.
CHICAGO (AP) – Two Chicago officers involved in a shooting that left a suspect dead were relieved of their police powers even as the case is still being investigated, police say. A third officer who had been in one of the police vehicles struck by the Jaguar gave chase after O’Neal fled on foot and fatally shot him. The officers involved in the shooting were responding to a call about a stolen Jaguar from southwest suburban Bolingbrook. They’re also calling for the release of any video related to the shooting.
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The department and the Independent Police Review Authority are looking into why the body cam didn’t record.
