Emanuel Urges Public To Withhold Judgement In O'Neal Case Until Investigations Concluded
(CBS) -- Following a weekend of protests calling for criminal prosecution of the Chicago police officers involved in the Paul O'Neal shooting, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is urging people to reserve judgement.
As CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, the mayor talked about the controversial shooting Monday morning.
"You can't jump to conclusions until the investigation is completed," he said.
But how long the investigation of the fatal shooting of O'Neal may take is unclear.
The Independent Police Review Authority is handling the case, and the agency's investigators will determine if it should be referred to the Cook County State's Attorney for charges.
"I don't want to jump to conclusions, and I'll wait to hear from Eddie Johnson, the superintendent," the mayor said.
Johnson already stripped three of the four officers involved of their police powers, but the public release of the video sparked several protests over the weekend. Many protestors saying they were outraged by what they saw.
The mayor says he also disturbed by the video. But he's reserving judgement and he's urging the public to do the same.
"There are more questions at this time than there are answers, and I don't want to jump to a conclusion until we know some basic fundamental facts from an event that happened," he said.
As for the three officers who were stripped of their police powers, they are on desk duty.
A spokesperson for the department that is the strongest action any police superintendent can take during an IPRA investigation. In order for them to suspended without pay, they must be convicted of a felony or have their firearm owner identification card revoked by the state.
