Official: Strip powers from Chicago cops in station shooting
CHICAGO (AP) — Two Chicago police officers who were involved in the shooting of an unarmed man in a downtown train station last week should be completely stripped of their police powers for the time being, the head of the agency that investigates the city's police shootings recommended Wednesday.
“Due to the serious nature of both officers' actions, I felt it necessary to recommend the officers involved be relieved of police powers while we continue to investigate the incident,” Sydney Roberts, the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, said in a statement.
The officers, whose names haven't been released, were already placed on administrative duty until investigations into Friday's shooting are completed, which is policy in cases of officer-involved shootings. But if the officers are stripped of their police powers, they would be relieved of their service weapons and would no longer have the authority to make arrests, said police spokesman Luis Agostini.
Interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck was told Roberts' recommendation but didn't immediately decide on the matter, Agostini said.
The officers were called to the Red Line L station on Friday afternoon in response to a call that another officer needed assistance after spotting a man jumping from one train car to another, which violates a city ordinance.
A widely viewed video taken by a person who was in the station shows a male officer lying on top of the suspect at the base of an escalator and struggling to keep the man still. The man can be heard saying, “I did nothing to you,” as the officer keeps telling him, “Stop resisting.” As they stand up, a female officer appears to try to pepper spray the man's face, before telling the man to show his hands so the officers can handcuff him.
The man refuses to be handcuffed and as he he stands, stun guns that the officers apparently used on the man can be seen on the floor. With the man still struggling to get away, the female officer shouted, “Give him your hands,” and a gunshot rang out. As the man fled up the escalator with the officers in pursuit, a second shot was fired out of view of the camera, though it's unclear which officer fired the shots.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot quickly said she found the actions of the officers as they played out on the video “deeply concerning” and that she supported Beck's decision to ask prosecutors to go to the scene. A police spokesman said that Beck had “significant tactical concerns” about the officers' actions.
Two days after the shooting, officials said that Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office had dropped resisting arrest and criminal narcotics charges against the man who was shot, Ariel Roman, at Beck's request.
The office has said it was working with the FBI to investigate the shooting.