A Chicago police officer shown in a 2013 dashcam video shooting at a vehicle full of teenagers is facing charges of federal civil rights violations, handed down by a grand jury Thursday.
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“When a police officer uses unreasonable force, it has a harmful effect on not only the victims, but also the public, who lose faith and confidence in law enforcement”, said Zachary T. Fardon, US Attorney for the Northern District of IL.
In Chicago, many residents say they are still uneasy with the city’s police force, which is still facing the aftermath of the release of a graphic video previous year showing Jason Van Dyke, a white police officer, firing 16 rounds at Laquan McDonald, a black teenager.
The video shows the officer firing his handgun into a vehicle occupied by the two teenagers, who posed no apparent theat.
Police said in a statement at the time that officers tried to pull over a speeding vehicle in the 9400 block of South LaSalle Street about 5:05 p.m.
Get breaking news right in your inbox.. U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon said, “When a police officer uses unreasonable force, it has a harmful effect on not only the victims, but also the public, who lose faith and confidence in law enforcement”. The indictment, returned on Thursday, doesn’t identify the alleged victims but accuses the officer of violating their civil rights on December 22, 2013. Police also said that a weapon was recovered at the scene.
The teenagers settled a lawsuit against the city for $360,000.
“Chicago police have said the officer involved in the shooting was immediately taken off the street and assigned to paid desk duty, on which he remains”, the Tribune reported.
Berman presided over a criminal trial for one of the teenagers in the vehicle.
But the Chicago Tribune reported that on that date, Proano was captured on videotape firing his weapon at the vehicle as it backed away from him.
A representative for Proano’s lawyer, Daniel Q. Herbert, declined to comment on the indictment.
Officers fired at the vehicle, striking two of the people inside, Camden said.
“I didn’t think this officer, given his behavior, should be out there with a firearm since he was showing on that video that he wasn’t fit to do that job”, he told the Sun-Times in an interview Friday. The teen was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, but the judge found that prosecutors didn’t prove that he knew the auto was stolen and acquitted him.
A Cook County grand jury ruled the fatal shooting unjustified and awarded Husband’s family $3.5 million in damages – but in a startling turn of events, the judge in the case, Associate Elizabeth Budzinski, overturned their decision because the jury had written in their decision that they believed the officer feared for his life.
Chicago police also said that early a year ago, former police Supt.
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A long-standing policy barred Chicago Police officers from firing on vehicles in most situations.
