Video Shows Cedrick Chatman Being Shot By Chicago Officer
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Three years after Cedrick Chatman's death, the city released a series of videos showing the teenager being shot by a Chicago Police Officer.
A judge ordered the videos be made public on Thursday. Since the Jan. 7, 2013 shooting, the city's lawyers had moved to keep the video under seal, pending a civil wrongful death lawsuit. They reversed course this week.
One video from a Chicago Police blue light camera above the intersection shows a very brief foot chase before Officer Kevin Fry discharged his weapon. Only a few seconds elapse from the time officers give chase and Chatman is on the ground.
Here is a sequence of that video, from a camera at the above the intersection of 75th Street and Jeffery Boulevard (the times are based on the video stamps):
1:46:05 p.m.: Chatman flees from a car stopped near the intersection. Three seconds later, one officer, Lou Toth, is seen chasing him down the sidewalk, before Chatman turns a corner and is out of the frame of the camera.
1:46:12: Officer Fry moves into the street with his gun drawn. (Chatman is not in view of the camera.)
1:46:16: Chatman is lying in the street.
(Camera pans to a different angle)
1:46:57: A Chicago Fire Department engine arrives on the scene.
1:47:06: One of the officers is seen with his foot on top of Chatman's body.
Another video shows the shooting from a different camera and angle, but farther away. It shows Chatman running away before falling to the ground. It is hard to tell if Chatman ever turned to face the officers or if he was carrying anything in his hand.
A third video, only about three seconds, shows Toth chasing Chatman down the sidewalk with his gun drawn. It is unclear whether Chatman at one point turns back toward Toth.
The car he was driving is seen moving slowly down the street. Fry runs to stop that car before returning to stand over Chatman.
Officers were chasing Chatman, 17, in connection with a car theft when police shot him.
Chatman family attorney Brian Coffman said the teen was not armed. The family is continuing to pursue its lawsuit against the city.
A supervising investigator of the Independent Police Review Authority, Lorenzo Davis, found the Chatman shooting to be unjustified. Civil rights attorney Torri Hamilton represents Davis. She told CBS her client was fired for refusing, to change his report.
The officers said Chatman turned slightly toward them, and had a dark object in his hand, when Fry opened fire. The object turned out to be a black iPhone box.
Both were cleared of wrongdoing in the shooting by the Independent Police Review Authority and State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.
