The Independent Police Review Authority, according to a recent policy change, must release the video within 90 days of the shooting. Autopsy results show O’Neal died Thursday of a gunshot wound to the back during a stolen vehicle investigation.
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But he said that timeline is not appropriate for this shooting, especially when officers have already been disciplined for their actions.
In addition to administrative duty, Johnson also ordered that the officers can not carry their guns or badge.
The shooting occurred Thursday night during a stolen vehicle investigation in the city’s South Shore neighborhood. O’Neal was in a stolen auto when officers shot at it. Police have said the officers broke rules and have been stripped of their powers.
The officer in question, as well as two others involved, had received the equipment only just recently, department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Tribune. Chicago Police First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante says the driver of the Jaguar then put the vehicle in drive, sideswiping a squad auto and a parked vehicle. Another question is what, exactly, led the officers to open fire.
Last week, the Independent Police Review Authority (IRPA) ruled that Chicago police used unjustified force previous year when they shot and wounded a black suspect in an alleged drug transaction who drove off in his auto when officers tried to stop him.
O’Neal’s 17-year-old friend who was riding in the vehicle with him was arrested.
The three officers were placed on administrative duties for 30 days, according to a statement after the shooting.
Department officials say investigators have retrieved body cameras and cameras on squad auto dashboards to determine whether officers followed the department’s deadly force policy when they opened fire on the fleeing vehicle.
According to police, officers sustained injuries while attempting to stop the vehicle and were transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They also do not say whether officers continued firing as the driver ran away-or if it was the driver who was killed. The convertible Jaguar vehicle was allegedly stolen from Bolingbrook. Three officers fired shots at the fleeing O’Neal, who was fatally struck, according to police and activist accounts of the incident.
The practice is seen as unsafe in addition to being banned by Chicago Police Department it is also banned by the NYPD, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), San Francisco Police Department, and the Denver Police Department.
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“As it appears, right now, departmental policy may have been violated during the incident”, he said, declining to elaborate. “It’s going to take a while to be able to view after downloading all the body camera footage as well as the in-car camera footage and whatever other video may be found during the canvass”.
