Chicago Releases Footage From Police Killing of 18-Year-Old Paul O'Neal
On Friday, the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates Chicago Police Department misconduct, released nine video clips, taken from police body and dashboard cameras, that show the aftermath and events leading up to the fatal shooting an unarmed 18-year-old black man named Paul O’Neal by an officer, according to the New York Times.
The Times’ account of the videos, which were released eight days after the shooting, is as follows:
They show two officers firing at least 10 rounds in the span of three or four seconds at a stolen Jaguar after it narrowly missed hitting one of the officers.
Seconds later, the Jaguar crashed head-on into a police S.U.V. and an occupant of the stolen car, Paul O’Neal, fled on foot. He disappeared from view behind a house as officers gave chase, and then several more shots rang out. Shortly afterward, officers are seen gathering around Mr. O’Neal, handcuffing him as he lay on the ground, and talking to each other about what had just happened.
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. F—— desk duty for 30 days now. Motherf——.”
The videos appear to show cops warning one another to turn their body cameras off, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Though cameras were able to record the scene leading up to and following the fatal shooting, they failed to document the moment when an officer fired the shot that killed O’Neal (according to the autopsy, O’Neal died from a gunshot wound to the back). Police said they are investigating whether the body camera worn by the officer who fatally shot O’Neal malfunctioned or was turned off.
The three officers who fired their guns during the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.
At a news conference on Saturday, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said that, after watching the video, he believes it’s possible that the officers who shot at O’Neal violated a department policy that forbids police from firing into or at the moving vehicle of an unarmed suspect, Reuters reports.
Seeing as that’s exactly what the video shows, it would seem Johnson is onto something.