Chicago – Video released Friday related to the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old suspected car thief shows officers firing into the vehicle, then handcuffing the blood-covered suspect following a foot chase.
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Officers are seen pursuing Paul O’Neal through a yard and over a fence amid the sound of gunshots. Officers then cuff the suspect, who is face down on the ground with blood on the back of his white shirt.
Attorney Michael Oppenheimerk, who represents O’Neal’s family, said the video showed officers taking “street justice into their own hands”. Oppenheimer said O’Neal’s family viewed the video Friday morning and it left them distraught, so they left without speaking to the media.
It was the city’s first release of video of a fatal police shooting under a new Chicago policy that calls for it to be made public within 60 days. That and other policy changes represent an effort to restore public confidence in the department after video released last year showing Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, shot 16 times by a white officer sparked protests and led to the ouster of the former police superintendent.
The latest recording catches the car being pursued by officers as it blows through a stop sign and smashes head-on into another police cruiser.
More than a half-dozen officers are seen racing between houses into backyards in pursuit of a person who fled from the car.
One officer needs help scaling a wooden gate, while the officer wearing the body camera is unable to climb over and walks around to the rear of another home where other officers have the suspect on the ground.
One officer can be heard saying “I shot. I don’t know who was shooting in the alley.”
Another officer asks moments later: “They shot at us, too? Right?”
The head of the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency that investigates Chicago police misconduct, called the video “shocking and disturbing.”
O’Neal’s autopsy results showed he died of a gunshot wound to the back. Police Supt. Eddie Johnson stripped three officers of their police powers after officials said a preliminary determination concluded they had violated department policy in the July 28 shooting.
Police have announced that a body camera of an officer involved in the shooting was not recording at the time.
Police Supt. Eddie Johnson stripped three officers of their police powers after officials said a preliminary determination concluded they had violated department policy in the July 28 shooting.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that the department and the police review authority were trying to determine why the body camera wasn’t working. He said it is likely because the officer was unfamiliar with how to properly use the camera he only received shortly before the shooting or the camera malfunctioned.
“We don’t believe there was any intentional misconduct with body cameras,” he said.
The president of the Chicago police officer’s union lamented the release of video evidence, saying that it is unfair to the officers, could turn public opinion against them and even jeopardize their own safety.
“These guys live in the neighborhoods, their kids go to school, and their photos will be all over the Internet,” he said. “It doesn’t mean they did anything wrong but someone may see it and perceive the officers should not have taken the actions they did.”
So? You commit a crime, you gotta be ready to pay the price, no matter how the police have to take you down. But in the Obama-caused environment where criminals are made into heroes who were “not doing anything wrong, minding their own business, when they suddenly got gunned down by a racist cop looking to murder a black…” This narrative has been accepted as Believable.
such a good “kid” he ONLY is a car jacker at 18.
I guess there will be looting and riots coming to Chicago in the very near future.
If there are no murder charges brought, then we may as well be living in a dictatorship.
There goes the CVS!
Somehow in the UK they manage to arrest ALL these criminals without shooting them dead
I agree 100% with #6 . To #7 -The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1988, that deadly physical force cannot be used against a fleeing felon, who was running away from law enforcement, and no longer presented a danger to them. Also, most police departments in the USA expressly prohibit Officers, from firing at a fleeing car. First of all, it is a very dangerous practice, as bullets can sometimes strike innocent civilians. Chief Jackson, who served 50 years on the Columbus, Ohio police force, prohibited his Officers from firing at a moving car. Unfortunately, several years after he retired, two trigger happy cops on foot patrol, fired at a moving car, which they stated tried to run them down on the sidewalk. The two, reckless cops fired multiple shots at the car. Although they stopped the car, and wounded the driver, at least one of their bullets bounced off a wall, and struck a young Mother of triplets, who was over 100 feet away. There was a multi-million dollar lawsuit which resulted, which all of the taxpayers will have to absorb, because of the recklessness of those two, reckless cops. Worse, I don’t think the cops were ever punished!
If anyone to blame here is the first officer that fired his weapon. The other responding officers only hear gun shots not knowing its from the officers. Officers fired at the suspects thinking that he has a gun and fired his gun at the officers.