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Chicago Releases Videos of Police Shootings Chicago Releases Videos of Police Shootings
(about 4 hours later)
CHICAGO — Chicago officials on Friday released hundreds of videos and other investigative materials from 101 cases in which police officers injured or killed civilians — a sharp turnaround for an administration that fought for a year not to release a video showing an officer fatally shooting a teenager as he lay sprawled on the ground. CHICAGO — Chicago officials on Friday released hundreds of videos and other investigative materials from 101 cases in which police officers fired their weapons or otherwise used force against civilians — a remarkable turnaround for an administration that fought last year not to release a video showing an officer fatally shooting a teenager as he lay sprawled on the ground.
Many of the videos, recorded by police dashboard cameras, business surveillance cameras and bystanders’ cellphones, were blurry or grainy and showed little. But a handful of others contain stark images of the kind of violent — and sometimes deadly — encounters that critics of the Chicago Police Department say are all too common. Some of the Police Department’s critics hailed the release by Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates claims of misconduct and excessive force, as a watershed moment for a city whose police and political culture have a long history of secrecy and obfuscation. Chicago officials refused to release a video showing Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white, shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was black, 16 times, until a judge’s order forced the city to make it public last November, more than a year later. Officer Van Dyke was charged with murder.
In a 2014 video, officers shoot into a vehicle, wounding a man, Michael Cote, who was trying to get away. A video from 2012 shows officers confronting a man, Ismael Jamison, who was apparently behaving erratically and reportedly had been hitting people. The officers shoot him and also use an electric stun weapon; Mr. Jamison, 28, survived. Videos from 2015 show an officer in plain clothes beating a man, Terrence Clarke, who was eating with his family in a restaurant, after Mr. Clarke complained about his meal, and then saying that Mr. Clarke had attacked him. “This is a significant step towards transparency in Chicago,” said Craig B. Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who directs a civil rights and police accountability project at the law school. “We’ve had decades of the code of silence and a lack of police accountability and institutional denial. The real test is, what does the new normal look like going forward?”
In a case from 2012, surveillance video shows three men inside an electronics business, apparently robbing it, loading a minivan, and then crashing it through a closed garage door, nearly hitting officers who were standing outside. Officers can be seen shooting at the van — one ejects a spent magazine and reloads — killing one man, David Strong, 27, and wounding two others, Leland Dudley, 33 and John Givens, 32. The two survivors were charged with homicide because Mr. Strong died during their commission of a felony; and they later sued the city for excessive force. But he noted that the city had changed its practices only under tremendous pressure, and argued that the change did not go far enough, still allowing too much time to pass before evidence is released.
The videos’ release by Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates claims of misconduct and excessive force, was very unusual for a city whose Police Department has a reputation for secrecy. Chicago officials waited until November — after a judge’s order — to release a video taken about a year earlier that showed Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white, shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was black, 16 times. Officer Van Dyke was charged with murder in the on-duty shooting. Police conduct and the city’s handling of it have become a political crisis for Chicago’s leaders, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who faced accusations that he did not want the McDonald video made public while he was in a re-election fight. For months after the video’s release, he faced calls for his resignation. Mr. Emanuel appointed a task force to look into police practices, and dismissed the city’s police superintendent.
Long-strained relations between the Chicago police and residents, especially African-Americans, boiled over after the release of the McDonald video. Since then, the city has experienced a marked increase in bloodshed. Shootings are up by 50 percent for the year, with hundreds injured and more than 230 people dead. There are indications that the department is getting little cooperation from mistrustful citizens, making it harder to solve crimes on the streets. Anita Alvarez, the state’s attorney for Cook County, the prosecutor who did not charge Officer Van Dyke until 13 months had passed and a judge had forced release of the video, lost a primary election in March.
Police conduct, and the city’s handling of it, have become a political crisis for Chicago’s leaders, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who faced accusations that he did not want the McDonald video made public while he was in a re-election fight, which he won only narrowly. For months after the video’s release, he faced calls for his resignation. Mr. Emanuel appointed a task force to look into police practices, and dismissed the city’s police superintendent.
In March, Anita Alvarez, the state’s attorney for Cook County, the prosecutor who waited 13 months before taking action against Officer Van Dyke, was ousted by voters.
The Justice Department has begun an investigation into the Police Department, and the mayor’s task force issued a scathing report saying that racism had contributed to a long pattern of institutional failures by a department that had lost the trust of residents.The Justice Department has begun an investigation into the Police Department, and the mayor’s task force issued a scathing report saying that racism had contributed to a long pattern of institutional failures by a department that had lost the trust of residents.
In a statement on Friday, Mr. Emanuel said the release of the new materials was “a major step forward to promote transparency, and it makes us one of the leading cities in America to guarantee timely public access to this breadth of information involving sensitive police incidents.” But, he added, “we know there is a lot more work to do.” Many of the videos released on Friday, recorded by police dashboard cameras, business surveillance cameras and bystanders’ cellphones, were blurry or grainy, or showed little that was of interest. But some contain stark images of the kind of violent, even deadly, encounters that critics of the Chicago Police Department say are all too common.
The 101 cases, 68 of which had video, include every open investigation into officer-involved shootings — whether anyone was hit or not — and every case in which a civilian was killed or seriously injured by a Taser, according to officials on the review board, who are appointed by the mayor. The cases also include every open investigation into deaths or serious injuries of people in police custody. In a case from 2012, surveillance video shows three men inside an electronics business, apparently robbing it, loading a minivan and then crashing it through a closed garage door, causing officers who were standing outside to leap out of the way. Officers can be seen shooting at the van — one ejects a spent magazine and reloads — killing one man, David Strong, 27, and wounding two others, Leland Dudley, 33, and John Givens, 32. The two survivors were later convicted of murder because Mr. Strong died during their commission of a felony; they also sued the city for excessive force.
It was not always clear what the videos were showing. In another 2012 case, witnesses called the police to report that a man had been hitting people, and multiple videos show the man, Ismael Jamison, shirtless and heavily muscled, pacing up and down a sidewalk, gesturing and grabbing a woman. Shortly after the police arrived, Mr. Jamison rushed at an officer, and the police shot him and shocked him with an electric stun weapon, struggling to subdue him even as he bled on the pavement. Mr. Jamison, 28, survived.
The video of Mr. Jamison, for example, “left me with more questions than answers,” said Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, who analyzed the recordings. In a 2014 video, officers shoot into a vehicle, wounding a man, Michael Cote, who was trying to get away. Videos from 2015 show an officer in plain clothes beating a man, Terrence Clarke, who was eating with his family in a restaurant, after Mr. Clarke complained about his meal, and then saying that Mr. Clarke had attacked him.
Long-strained relations between the Chicago police and residents, especially African-Americans, boiled over after the release of the McDonald video. Since then, the city has experienced a marked increase in bloodshed. Shootings are up by 50 percent for the year, with hundreds injured and more than 230 people dead. There are indications that the department is getting little cooperation from mistrustful citizens, making it harder to solve crimes on the streets.
In a statement on Friday, Mr. Emanuel said the release of the new materials was “a major step forward to promote transparency, and it makes us one of the leading cities in America to guarantee timely public access to this breadth of information involving sensitive police incidents.” But, he added, “We know there is a lot more work to do.”
Chicago’s chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police criticized the release of the material as “irresponsible,” saying the city took the action with little notice to union leaders. “It is sad when, with all the talk about transparency and communication, they decide to operate in this manner,” the union said in a statement.
William Calloway, a Chicago activist who pushed for the release of the McDonald video, called Friday’s release “damage control” by a mayor who was “trying to appease the public.” But he said the videos offered valuable evidence that excessive force was endemic, not isolated.
Basileios J. Foutris, a Chicago civil rights lawyer, said Friday’s release was welcome, but that the review authority “should have been doing this a long time ago,” and seemed to still be withholding some written material. He represents the family of Quintonio LeGrier, a 19-year-old who was fatally shot in a confrontation with the police, in a lawsuit against the city.
The 101 cases, 68 of which had video, date from 2011. They include every open investigation into officer-involved shootings — whether anyone was hit or not. They also include every case in which a civilian was killed or seriously injured by an officer or in police custody, excluding self-inflicted wounds, according to officials on the review board, who are appointed by the mayor.
It was not always clear what the videos were showing, in part because most have no sound. The videos of Mr. Jamison, for example, “left me with more questions than answers,” said Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, who analyzed the recordings.
“There’s this guy who is walking around, very agitated,” she said. “And there’s suddenly a police officer holding a gun, pointing a gun at this individual — but I don’t see where he’s arrived from, if there was some type of exchange before.”“There’s this guy who is walking around, very agitated,” she said. “And there’s suddenly a police officer holding a gun, pointing a gun at this individual — but I don’t see where he’s arrived from, if there was some type of exchange before.”
But the recordings offer a wide-ranging set of raw, if incomplete, looks at some of the confused, adrenaline-fueled and dangerous moments that punctuate police work. In one video, an officer can be heard saying, “We got to get our story straight,” and later an officer says he is glad he “didn’t miss” a suspect, adding, “I was running when I shot him.” But the action they are describing is unseen.
Officials from the police review authority emphasized that they were not making any judgments about whether excessive force or other misconduct occurred in any of the cases, which are all still under investigation. And they did not single out any cases with the potential to become the most controversial.Officials from the police review authority emphasized that they were not making any judgments about whether excessive force or other misconduct occurred in any of the cases, which are all still under investigation. And they did not single out any cases with the potential to become the most controversial.
Instead, the officials emphasized their hope that disclosing the videos and other materials from the investigative files would make people in the community more confident in the procedures for investigating police misconduct. Instead, the officials emphasized their hope that disclosing the videos and other materials from the investigative files would make people in Chicago more confident in the procedures for investigating police misconduct.
“These past few months, as the city has struggled with so many questions about policing and about police accountability, it has been clear that we all agree that there is a lack of trust, and that increased transparency is essential to rebuilding that trust,” said Sharon Fairley, the police review authority’s chief administrator. “Today represents an important first step toward that.”“These past few months, as the city has struggled with so many questions about policing and about police accountability, it has been clear that we all agree that there is a lack of trust, and that increased transparency is essential to rebuilding that trust,” said Sharon Fairley, the police review authority’s chief administrator. “Today represents an important first step toward that.”
Whatever confidence once existed was shattered in many quarters after a court in November ordered the release of video of Mr. McDonald’s shooting, more than a year after he was killed. Officer Van Dyke was not charged in the case until the release of the graphic and disturbing video was imminent.