CHICAGO COVERS UP POLICE SHOOTING VIDEOS, ATTORNEYS CHARGE B

The progress from Western colonial global expansion, and the construction of American wealth and industry on the backs of enslaved Blacks and Native peoples, followed by the abrupt "emancipation" of the slaves and their exodus from the South to the Northern cities, has led us to our current divided society. Divided by economic inequities and unequal access to social resources, the nation lives in a media dream of social harmony, or did until YouTube set its bed on fire. Now, it is common knowledge that our current system of brutal racist policing and punitive over-incarceration serves the dual purpose of maintaining racial prejudice and the inequities it justifies. Brief yourself on this late-breaking development in American history here.

CHICAGO COVERS UP POLICE SHOOTING VIDEOS, ATTORNEYS CHARGE B

Postby admin » Tue Jan 19, 2016 9:29 pm

CHICAGO COVERS UP POLICE SHOOTING VIDEOS, ATTORNEYS CHARGE
BY LAUREN WALKER
1/16/16

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


Image
A Chicago police officer, lower right corner of the frame, is seen aiming his gun at Cedrick Chatman, who is not pictured, during a foot chase on January 7, 2013, in Chicago. City attorneys on January 14 released grainy 2013 surveillance video showing the fatal shooting of the 17-year-old black carjacking suspect.
CITY OF CHICAGO LAW DEPARTMENT/AP


As Chicago reels following the latest release of a police shooting video, attorneys are pointing at coverups as the most pressing issue.

In a last-minute about-face, the city on Wednesday reversed a long-standing objection to the release of footage showing the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Cedrick Chatman by a white Chicago police officer three years ago.

On January 7, 2013, two plain-clothes officers pulled up beside a car that had been reported stolen. They ordered the driver, 17-year-old Chatman, to get out. Chatman ran, and police officers Kevin Fry and Lou Toth chased after him.

As Chicago reels following the latest release of a police shooting video, attorneys are pointing at coverups as the most pressing issue.

In a last-minute about-face, the city on Wednesday reversed a long-standing objection to the release of footage showing the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Cedrick Chatman by a white Chicago police officer three years ago.

On January 7, 2013, two plain-clothes officers pulled up beside a car that had been reported stolen. They ordered the driver, 17-year-old Chatman, to get out. Chatman ran, and police officers Kevin Fry and Lou Toth chased after him.





The public outcry surrounding Chatman’s case flared just days after the city on November 24, 2014 released footage of white police officer Jason van Dyke shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times, ultimately killing him. The city fought the release of that footage for more than a year, making it public only after it was ordered to do so in court.

The video laid bare a problem that had long been bubbling under the surface, says attorney Michael Oppenheimer, who represents the family of Ronald Johnson, the victim of a Chicago police officer shooting in 2014. “Most police officers are great,” he says, “but the real problem is even beyond what goes on in these videos. It is the cover up.”

Steve Patton, the head of Chicago’s Law Department defended the last minute reversal regarding the Chatman video footage. “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," he said in a statement.

"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."

The IPRA opens an average of three excessive-force complaints involving Chicago police officers each day, according to Injustice Watch, a Chicago-based nonprofit. But prosecutors, their analysis of federal and state data shows, bring excessive-force charges against officers only around two times a year.

The original independent police investigator in Chatman’s case, Lorenzo Davis, ruled that the officer was not justified in using lethal force, saying Chatman fled without turning toward or posing a threat to the officers. The Chatman case was his last. Davis filed a federal lawsuit last year alleging that he was fired for refusing to change his findings that Chatman’s and other shootings were unjustified.

“Initially the chief administrators would just go into the computer system and change my findings,” Davis tells Newsweek. He says that evolved into threats of termination if he did not arrive at the “proper” conclusion.

Torreya Hamilton, Davis’s attorney, called the McDonald video the “perfect storm of exposure,” as it is rare to have such a crisp video with clear police misconduct. “It was very difficult given the timing of things for our leaders to deny that there was a coverup,” she said.

And the public took notice, says Attorney Jeffrey Neslund, who represents McDonald’s family. “What you have now in Chicago in particular is an outcry for transparency,” he says. “If there is a video of an incident, we want to see it.”

Without the videos, defense attorneys who spoke with Newsweek say, excessive-force cases come down to the officer’s word against the defendant’s. And when the defendants have records, they appear even less trustworthy. Though few cases have video documentation, their rare public release, some contend, could ultimately serve multiple purposes.

Davis thinks just the possibility of a video’s eventual release will cause officers to act differently. “If the public is going to see the videos and they are going to be scrutinized,” he says, “then that would be another check on the powers of the police.”

Oppenheimer adds that it will chip away at the culture of “covering up.”

But at the end of the day, the attorneys say, it is up to the public to apply the pressure. “As of right now,” says Hamilton, “it seems to me that the only time the city will be transparent is when the city is forced to do so by a court or by public pressure.”
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Return to Slavery 2.0: Racist Cops and the Prison Industrial Complex

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests

cron