Report: Video shows Chicago police officer firing on black youths in car
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NOT ONE BLACK OR BROWN PERSON IN PROMINENT AUTHORITY EXPRESSED OUTRAGED IN THIS MATTER PROBABLY MOSTLY ARE FROM MISSISSIPPI AND STILL THINK THEY ARE INFERIOR OR BEHOLDING TO RACIST DOCTRINES.
Last Updated Jun 23, 2015 3:34 PM EDT
CHICAGO -- A retired judge has released dashboard camera video that shows a white Chicago police officer repeatedly firing his handgun into a car full of black youths who had been pulled over for speeding and posed no apparent threat.
The judge, who presided over a criminal trial of one of the teens, released the December 2013 video at a time when the Chicago Police Department has been offering assurances about police conduct while refusing to turn over their dash-cam videos.
Two teenagers were injured in the shooting and left lying in the street, handcuffed and bleeding, with no apparent effort to get them urgent medical treatment.
Their families, who sued the city in federal court, allege officers later forcibly removed them from a hospital while they still were recovering and put them through lengthy questioning. One was crying out in pain during the interrogation and the other was bleeding so profusely he had to be taken back to the hospital, according to the lawsuit.
The city and police department got a judge to issue a protective order to keep the video from being released by any parties to the civil case, which resulted in a $360,000 settlement.
But that did not prohibit former Cook County Judge Andrew Berman from releasing the video, which had been introduced as evidence in the related criminal trial he presided over. The boy in that case was acquitted of possession of a stolen vehicle and misdemeanor criminal trespass involving a vehicle.
Berman released the video to The Chicago Reporter magazine, which first reported on it Thursday.
The retired judge said in an interview with the Associated Press that he felt obligated to make the video public.
"It just showed a reckless and callous disregard for human life by somebody who is sworn to serve and protect," Berman said, adding that he believes race was a factor in the incident.
"No one knows for sure, but my strong gut feeling is that these shots never would have been fired if the kids in the car were white," Berman said.
The shooting, one of nearly two-thousand that year in a city struggling with violence, drew little attention at the time. But the release of the video has placed it among the growing number of instances of questionable police conduct against African Americans nationwide.
The officer, identified in court papers as Marco Proano, arrived on the scene after another patrol car already had stopped the vehicle, and his dash-cam video shows a situation that appears to be under control.
Proano then gets out of his vehicle with his handgun raised, held sideways and pointed at the car, which reverses up the street and away from the officers.
Proano fires multiple times -- an attorney for the families says more than a dozen shots were fired -- as the car with six teens inside skids sideways and hits a street light.
The car, which officers say they spotted speeding, turned out to be stolen.
Police say a weapon was recovered at the scene, though the families' attorney, Timothy Fiscella, says it was a pellet gun and was never visible or brandished at the officers.
A police statement at the time also said the officer opened fire out of fear that the "occupants who had been in the vehicle were in a position to sustain great bodily harm."
The civil suit brought by the teens' families says Proano fired "without provocation, cause or justification of any kind."
One of the teens was struck in the shoulder. Two other bullets grazed his forehead and cheek. The other injured teen was shot in his hip and heel.
Proano, who admits firing the shots but denies the suit's claims of excessive force and constitutional rights violations, was moved to desk duty during an investigation by Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority, which remains ongoing. His attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
Plaintiffs' attorney Timothy Fiscella criticized the length of the investigation into Proano's conduct in an interview with 48 Hours' Crimesider, but declined to discuss the civil suit.
"It's a little bit ridiculous that the Independent Police Review Authority is still investigating 18 months later when this thing was on camera and its pretty clear what happened," Fiscella said. He added that the Authority has a reputation for taking a long time to conduct investigations.
"I have a lot of civil rights litigation cases, and it takes years for (the Independent Police Review Authority) to take any action, if at all," Fiscella said.
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