The actual shooting, which occurred on July 28, isn’t seen in the footage because the officer’s body camera didn’t record the moment he opened fire.
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O’Neal, who was unarmed, died of a gunshot wound to the back, authorities said. The video released Friday, Aug. 5, 2016, was the city’s first release of video of the fatal police shooting under a new Chicago policy that calls for such images to be made public within 60 days.
The shooting, the latest instance of a black man killed by police in a year that has seen multiple such incidents in locales such as Louisiana and Minnesota, has been likened to an execution by many while others caution against a rush to judgment. WARNING: The following clip contains raw video captured by police dashboard cameras and body cameras of the Chicago police shooting that killed Paul O’Neal.
Ja’Mal Green, a spokesman for O’Neal’s family said, “I want to commend Superintendent Johnson for trying to be accountable and transparent, but how can we hold these officers accountable when these body cameras we use aren’t even working?”
Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo said it was important the public not rush to judgment of the officers involved in the shooting. In this frame grab from a body cam provided by the Independent Police Review Authority, a Chicago police officer fires into a stolen vehicle driven by Paul O’Neal on July 28, 2016, in. The release 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.
Several also noted they were also upset that 50 years after King Jr. marched on the same streets, they are still having to march today.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said he was “concerned by some of the things that I saw” on body cam videos that show a confrontation between auto theft suspect Paul O’Neal, 18, and police on July 28, although the shots that killed O’Neal were not captured by video. All the 9-videos evidence shows officers mortally shooting an 18-year-old black boy, Paul O’Neal, who was at the wheel during the chase.
Johnson said he was “concerned” over the shooting of Paul O’Neal, but said he could not say specifically why due to the ongoing investigation.
“We don’t believe there was any intentional misconduct with body cameras”, Mr Guglielmi said.
During the news conference, the Police Department’s new head of organizational development, Anne Kirkpatrick, told reporters she’d take a “hard look” at how the department’s training and tactics could improve from the O’Neal shooting.
Johnson immediately stripped three officers of their police powers after reviewing the circumstances of O’Neal’s shooting.
The demonstration was provoked by the released of a video on Friday, in which police officers are seen firing at least 15 shots at a auto.
Johnson broke with tradition by saying police appeared to have violated departmental policy in the O’Neal case. Demonstrators interrupted Johnson Friday as he tried to read a statement to the media; later, they confronted officers outside Chicago Police Headquarters, though things remained peaceful.
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A memorial for King’s August 5, 1966, march was unveiled Friday at Marquette Park. A march and festival were scheduled for Saturday, with The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Ilyasah Al-Shabazz among the speakers, and Rakim, Vic Mensa and Brother Ali among the slate of performers.
