A series of videos released Friday shows Chicago police firing repeatedly at a stolen auto as it careens down the street, then handcuffing the mortally wounded black teenager who was at wheel after a chaotic foot chase through a residential neighborhood.
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The Independent Police Review Authority plans to release the video at 11 a.m. Friday in the shooting death of Paul O’Neal, whose autopsy results showed died of a gunshot wound to the back.
The moment O’Neal is hit is not captured on camera but officers are seen crowding around the young man and handcuffing him as he lies face down with blood soaking through his t-shirt.
In the video, a Chicago police officer is seen shooting at a black Jaguar as it races down a residential street.
The Tribune reported that Ja’Mal Green, an activist who is acting as a spokesman for O’Neal’s family, said it was “amazing” how officers “treat us like savages”.
No gun was recovered from the scene.
The video of O’Neal’s last moments has now been reviewed by O’Neal’s family and O’Neal family lawyer Michael Oppenheimer.
It was the first time the city was making public such material in a fatal police shooting under a new policy that calls for it to do so within 60 days. The moment of death is not shown in the released footage.
Video of the death comes after footage of police shooting another Chicago teen, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, led to longrunning protests in the city and around the country. “When he came out the auto, I shot at him!” Yet another one suggested that the people in the vehicle opened fire on law enforcement.
One officer is heard saying: “I think I shot that mother******, man”. Another officer asks, “They shot at us, too?”
Authorities have not said specifically what policy the officers broke.
Video related to the fatal shooting of a auto theft suspect shows Chicago police officers firing on a moving vehicle that then strikes a squad auto before an occupant runs out.
But the policy also says that officers “will not unreasonably endanger themselves or another person to conform to the restrictions of this directive”, meaning they have the right to defend themselves if they or someone else are in imminent danger of being struck. The head of the department’s oversight agency called the video footage “shocking and disturbing”. She did not elaborate.
“It’s unclear as to whether or not he was the actual shooter, but you are going to hear one of the police officers say, “Now I’m going to get a 30-day suspension”.
“They did everything but high-five each other”, Oppenheimer told the Tribune, remarking on one video which shows officers shaking hands after shooting O’Neal.
“We don’t believe there was any intentional misconduct with body cameras”, Mr Guglielmi said.
Oppenheimer alleged that the non-operating body camera was part of a police effort to cover up what he called a “cold-blooded murder”. “I don’t know who was shooting in the alley”.
“To that end, IPRA is conducting a full and thorough investigation of the entire incident including the use of force, the pursuit, body camera usage and all other possible policy and procedural violations that occurred during the incident”, she said in a statement Friday morning. Whatever the intent, the officers immediately stopped talking.
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O’Neal’s family saw the videos before those were made public, but they declined to speak to reporters on Friday.
