COPA Releases Video Of Incident Where Officer Shot Man In Hand In Irving Park; Lawsuit Claims Man And His Friend Were Unarmed And Posed No Threat
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Attorneys filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department Tuesday, as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released video of an incident in which an off-duty officer shot a man in the hand in the Irving Park neighborhood back in December.
Police said at 10:48 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, an officer heard shots in the 3300 block of West Irving Park Road. He walked up to a parked car with people inside, which led to a quarrel and then the shooting, police said.
COPA said the officer claimed the driver pointed a gun at him.
The man in the car was taken to Swedish Hospital for treatment and placed into custody pending further investigation. The officer was not injured.
COPA released police body cam video showing the aftermath of the incident. A car with a shattered front driver's side window is seen parked in a 7-Eleven parking lot in the 2800 block of West Irving Park Road, several blocks east of where the incident happened.
A man in a sweat shirt reading "DRIP," whose face is blurred, is also seen with a napkin or paper towel on his hand – which is covered in blood – as he talks to officers.
Video from a camera mounted on a nearby business shows the shooting, but from a great distance.
COPA asked that anyone with information call (312) 746-3609 or visit chicagocopa.org.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Law Office filed a lawsuit on behalf of the two men in the car into which authorities the officer fired. The suit said the men in the car – Jomner Orozco Carreto and Carlos Ramirez – were unarmed and posed "no risk to anyone."
The lawsuit said Orozco was driving at the time of the incident, while Ramirez was in the passenger seat. They were headed out to meet another friend and were traveling west on Irving Park Road at the time, the lawsuit said.
Ramirez was using his GPS to navigate and provide directions to Orozco, and Orozco had doubts about the directions the GPS was providing and decided to pull over to use the GPS safely on his own.
Orozco pulled to the side of the road on Irving Park Road, where the officer involved – identified in the lawsuit as Kevin Bunge – was sitting in a sport-utility vehicle parked in front of Orozco's car after just having finished his shift, the lawsuit said.
While Orozco and Ramirez were parked legally on the street trying to figure out directions, Bunge came up with holding a handgun and displaying a police star around his neck, the lawsuit alleged.
The suit went on to claim that "without cause or justification," Officer Bunge pointed his gun toward Orozco and Ramirez and shot at them several times. Orozco understood his and Ramirez's lives were in danger, so he rapidly reversed and sped off, the lawsuit said.
The People's Law Office said Orozco and Ramirez then called 911 and went to a nearby store to seek help.
Orozco was the one who was shot in the hand, and he ended up with significant injuries to two fingers, the lawsuit said.
Glass from the shattered car window also hit Ramirez in the face, and the noise from the gunshots was so loud that it caused significant pain and hearing loss in his left ear, the lawsuit alleged.
The shooting also left bullet holes in Orozco's car, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit accused Officer Bunge of making false statements in police reports he went on to complete, so as to "cover up his wrongdoing."
"Adding insult to injury, Chicago police officers placed both men under arrest, despite the fact that they were victims of this unprovoked shooting," the People's Law Office said in a news release.
Quoted in the news release from the law office, Orozco said: "I hope no one else ever has to experience what happened to us. The police department needs to control its officers. This should never have happened, and we will fight for justice."
Ramirez was quoted as saying of the officer involved: "He should be fired. He is too dangerous to be a law enforcement officer. I thought we were going to die. I don't want this to ever happen to anyone else. That really helps me fight for justice."
The lawsuit sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. It was filed by Brad Thomson and Jan Susler of the People's Law Office.
The morning after the shooting, the officer was reportedly on administrative leave for 30 days while the COPA investigated, but that afternoon, police said the officer was "relieved of his police powers by Superintendent David O. Brown while the Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigation continues."
Records show Officer Bunge has been with the Police Department since nearly eight years. A police spokesman said the department does not comment on pending litigation.
CBS 2's Jim Williams contributed to this report.
