City Moves To Release Another Deadly Police Shooting Video
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The City Of Chicago on Wednesday moved to allow the release of another video that depicts a deadly shooting by police.
City lawyers filed a motion with a federal judge to vacate protective orders covering videos that showed the shooting a Cedrick Chatman by members of the Chicago Police Department.
"With respect to the release of videos of police incidents, the City of Chicago is working to find the right balance between the public's interest in disclosure and the importance of protecting the integrity of investigations and the judicial process," said Steve Patton, the city's top lawyer.
"In this case, the city sought a protective order consistent with its decades-long policy. We recognize the policy needs to be updated, and while we await guidance from the Task Force on Police Accountability, we are working to be as transparent as possible."
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The videos are currently under a protective order to ensure a fair trial for all parties in an ongoing civil lawsuit, first filed in 2014, the city said.
Chatman, 17, was shot by police in January 2013, and his family wants surveillance videos of the shooting made public as they push forward with a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and two police officers.
Officers were chasing Chatman in connection with a car theft when police shot him.
Even though the city recently agreed to release videos of two other fatal police shootings – the cases of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and 25-year-old Ronald Johnson – city attorneys had argued releasing the video of Chatman's shooting could compromise jury selection for the pending trial in the lawsuit.
The city dropped those objections on Wednesday, leaving the final decision on release of the video in the hands U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman.
That decision could come on Thursday.
Chatman family attorney Brian Coffman says the move by the city is a political move to get ahead of the game.
"If Mr. Emanuel really wants to stand by his words of transparency and change, here's his opportunity to do it," he said. "If that means releasing the videos, great. But given the timing of it, it makes it a little suspect."
Meaning - pressure from protests over the Laquan McDonald shooting, recorded on dashcam video.
Coffman says Chatman never turned toward the officers.
Former IPRA supervising investigator Lorenzo Davis found the Chatman shooting to be unjustified. Civil rights attorney Torri Hamilton represents Davis. She told CBS 2 her client was fired for refusing to change his report.
The CPD Officers involved in the shooting, Kevin Fry and Lou Toth, are being represent by attorney Andy Hale, who released a statement saying, "As these videos will demonstrate, the facts in this incident are clear. Officers Fry and Toth identified a carjacked vehicle and had reason to believe that the suspect was armed. After disobeying the officer's order to exit the vehicle, the suspect reached to the floor and ran out of the vehicle with a dark object in his hand. As he was fleeing, the suspect turned toward the officers, with the dark object in his right hand, causing one officer to open fire. A medical expert has reported that a bullet entered the suspect's right forearm and then entered the lower right side of the abdomen. A nationally recognized police use of force expert has also produced a report concluding that this shooting was justified."
The dark object turned out to be an iPhone box.
