The videos released Friday show officers firing repeatedly at a stolen vehicle as it careens down the street away from them and later handcuffing a wounded Paul O’Neal, who was driving the auto, after a chaotic foot chase through a residential neighborhood.
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Videos from the fatal shooting of teenager Paul O’Neal by Chicago police show officers firing into a vehicle that was being driven away from them and, later, officers handcuffing O’Neal as he lay wounded behind a home.
In a video taken after the shooting, in which O’Neal can be seen handcuffed with blood on his back, one of the officers, who said he shot at O’Neal, says, “F-, man, I’m gonna be on a desk for 30 g– days now”. Police say they shot and killed an 18-year-old man who was in a stolen Jaguar that sideswiped a squad vehicle.
Johnson told a news conference it was against departmental policy to fire at or into a moving auto when the vehicle was the only potential use of deadly force by a suspect.
Johnson said that high stress situations like a shooting cause a surge of adrenaline through the system.
Nine videos from police dashcams and body cameras were released Friday.
Moments later, officers curse at 18-year-old Paul O’Neal as they put him in handcuffs as he lies face down.
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. The officer who shot him is now awaiting trial on murder charges.
“Body-worn cameras hold tremendous promise for enhancing transparency, promoting accountability, and advancing public safety for law enforcement officers and the communities they serve”, said Attorney General Loretta Lynch last spring, while she announced .2 million in grants to aid smaller police departments to buy body cameras.
The three officers involved were reportedly placed on paid administrative leave after superintendent Eddie Johnson determined they violated department policy. Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi pointed out that the body camera starts working after the shooting – an indication that the officer, believing the incident was over, thought he was turning the camera off when he was actually turning it on. 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.
The top cop also said, “A lot of people are upset by what they saw”. The policy was changed after public outrage previous year following months of delay in releasing video that showed black teenager Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times by a white officer. The head of the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency that investigates Chicago police misconduct, called the footage “shocking and disturbing”.
Johnson said the officers had training in how to use the cameras but it is not clear how extensive that was.
Autopsy results show the unarmed teen died from a gunshot wound to the back.
IPRA is now investigating the matter.
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Though the investigation is ongoing, CPD “will not wait” to “begin training reform”, said Anne Kirkpatrick, chief of the newly formed Bureau of Organizational Development.
