CHICAGO (AP) — Police bodycam video of an officer shooting a 13-year-old boy appears to show the boy raising his hands in the air a moment before shots were fired, according to an attorney for the boy’s family.
The shooting May 18 on the city’s West Side left the boy paralyzed.
The video is from the body camera of an officer running after the 13-year-old believed to have been a passenger in a stolen car. The footage is from another officer involved in the chase.
“Let’s be clear,” said Andrew Stroth, an attorney for the boy’s family. “What the video shows is an unarmed Black boy, running away from the police, puts his hands up, obeying what he heard from the officers, and without cause or provocations is shot.”
The officer’s name has not been released publicly, but WLS-TV said his attorney, Timothy Grace, issued a statement saying the officer believed the boy was armed with a gun. Investigators said they never found a gun at the scene.
“Police officers are required to make split-second decisions and the law not only understands that, but allows for it,” Grace said. “Illinois law tells us that we are not supposed to look at these situations with 20-20 hindsight, but rather we should judge the actions of a law enforcement officers from the perspective of a reasonable officer.”
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is continuing to investigate and has issued no determination. The officer has been restricted to desk duty.
The boy’s family has filed a federal lawsuit against the city. The lawsuit identifies the boy only by the initials A.G.
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