Video shows Chicago police shooting at car

Associated Press

CHICAGO

Video released Friday shows Chicago police firing repeatedly at a stolen car as it careens down the street away from them, then handcuffing the mortally wounded black 18-year-old who was at the wheel after a chaotic foot chase through a residential neighborhood.

None of the footage from last month shows the moment Paul O’Neal was shot in the back; the fatal bullet was fired after he exited the stolen car and was running from police. Shortly afterward, O’Neal can be seen lying face-down on the ground in a backyard, blood soaking through the back of his T-shirt.

An officer is heard angrily accusing the suspected car thief of firing at police. Another officer asks, “They shot at us too, right?” suggesting police believed they had been fired upon and that they did not know how many suspects were present.

No gun was recovered from the scene.

Attorney Michael Oppenheimer, who represents O’Neal’s family, said the video showed officers taking “street justice into their own hands.”

In all, nine videos were released from both body cameras and at least one dashboard camera. It was the city’s first release of video of a fatal police shooting under a new policy that calls for such material 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 showed a black teenager named Laquan McDonald getting shot 16 times by a white officer.

The McDonald video sparked protests and led to the ouster of the former police superintendent. The officer who shot him is awaiting trial on murder charges.

The latest recording catches the stolen car being pursued by officers as it blows through a stop sign. Before gunfire breaks out, the suspect sideswipes one squad car and then smashes into another as officers open fire.

An officer can be heard explaining that the suspect “almost hit my partner. I [expletive] shot at him.” Another officer who apparently fired his weapon laments that he was going to be on “desk duty for 30 [expletive] days now.”