The video footage released today prompted Chicago police to warn of “civil unrest” and potential violence against cops.
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What the videos do not show is the fatal shooting itself.
Two officers appeared and fired from pistols at the vehicle driven by O’Neal, who ended up colliding with another police auto, the video showed. “Get your hands behind your back”. “We want that for the police department as well. The police out here acting reckless”.
Chicago police called a black teenager a “bitch ass motherfucker” as he lay dying, having been shot by a police officer, disturbing body camera footage released on Friday showed.
O’Neal’s sister also watched the video this morning, but says she had to leave the room before it was over because it was too disturbing.
The fact that there was any video released at all, and just eight days after the shooting, is being seen as a step in the right direction for the Chicago Police Department though, especially with all the previous accusations against them for withholding information regarding police misconduct.
Johnson eventually walked away as the group continued to shout. “I felt like that was a tear right down the middle of this relationship between the community and police, and I think it’s going to even further divide communities in Chicago as it relates to public safety in the city”.
“Again, I’m asking for a special prosecutor, I’m not the prosecutor now. What I saw was pretty cold-blooded”, he added. There’s a lot of emotion there, There’s a lot of stuff. “There is no question in my mind that they ran this kid down and murdered him”.
O’Neal, 18, was shot in the back during the chase.. What did the officers think they were accomplishing when they began shooting into O’Neal’s auto? The officers emerge from their vehicle, guns drawn as the Jaguar barrels pass, narrowly missing taking down one of the officers before both of the uniformed men open fire on the auto speeding away from them.
After O’Neal is in custody, one officer can be overhead on the video lamenting that he’ll now be forced on desk duty.
Officers are heard cursing the young man, whose arms appear to be limp as they put him in handcuffs. Two officers opened fire on him as he drove, and when O’Neal fled from the crash, a third officer pursued him behind a neighborhood home and shot him when he wouldn’t stop. However, the force later confirmed no weapon was recovered from the scene. While the actual shooting is not captured in the videos, the fatal shots can be heard. As the Tribune pointed out, the IPRA hardly ever recommended stern charges for officers involved in questionable shootings. Johnson promised Friday that that if the officers acted improperly, they would “be held accountable for their actions”, though authorities have not detailed the specific policy, nor identified the officers.
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“We will not wait to look for ways we can learn from this incident”, he said. “No more Paul O’Neal, no more Laquan McDonald, no more Sandra Bland, no more Rekia Boyd”.
