A federal judge order the release Thursday of yet another police video out of Chicago which would give a second look at another case involving the shooting death of a black teenager by a police officer.
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The decision allowing the videos’ release comes with Emanuel and the police department already under pressure over a fatal 2014 police shooting of another teenager.
Fry told investigators he feared for his partner’s life and fired four shots, saying Chatman made a slight turn toward him and had an object in his hand that he believed to be a gun.
Lawyers for Chatman’s mother, who is suing the city over her son’s death, say the videos contradict police statements that Chatman, a carjacking suspect, had a dark object that he pointed at them. Chatman was later found to be unarmed and holding a black iPhone box. An officer stands with one foot on Chatman before emergency crews arrive.
Family members have argued the video will counter the city and police’s narrative that the 17-year-old was a danger to police.
“It is a political move to save face”, Coffman said.
“These cases should not be tried in the press”, the judge said. “The importance of releasing the video is it helps promote the change in transparency that everybody wants and the mayor has pledged”.
“Fry didn’t appear to exhaust his options”, Davis said, adding that he was able to review enhanced versions of the shooting footage while evaluating the case for IPRA. One video from a camera that pans back and forth is grainy and it doesn’t show Chatman fall; another is clearer and shows Chatman fall, but it is taken from farther away and doesn’t show definitively if Chatman ever turned.
Fry saw a “a dark gray or black object” in Chatman’s hand, which he “believed to be a handgun”.
“The video supports Officer Fry’s observation that (Chatman) was pointing a firearm at Officer Toth”, the final IPRA report said, concluding that the “use of deadly force was in compliance with Chicago Police Department policy”.
The Independent Police Review Authority investigated the shooting and determined that Fry did not use excessive force.
“We recognize the (city’s video release) policy needs to be updated, and while we await guidance from the Task Force on Police Accountability, we are working to be as transparent as possible”, said Steve Patton, Emanuel’s top legal adviser.
Cedrick Chatman, 17, was running from police responding to a carjacking when he was killed.
Chatman ran south with the two officers following.
He confirmed there were no pending criminal investigations against the two officers in the Chatman shooting.
While several of the videos are hard to decipher, MSNBC released a frame-by-frame analysis of key moments leading up to the showing.
“The city of Chicago has had not only the last month and a half, they’ve had over 2 1/2 years to be transparent in this case and surely you are going to see what actually happened on January 7, 2013”, said Brian Coffman, an attorney for the Chatman family, per NBC Chicago.
A lawyer for Chatman’s family says the video will show he never turned toward officers and posed no threat.
“Cedrick was just running as the shots were fired”, Davis told the Tribune.
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Caroline Glennon, the public defender for Odom, accused the state attorney’s office of “overreaching and abusing its power by charging two men with Cedrick’s murder who weren’t even there at the time he was killed”.
