Judge Delays Ruling On Release Of Video From Another Fatal Police Shooting
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A federal judge has given the city more time before he decides whether to release videos of a third fatal police shooting, this one involving the death of a black teenager in 2013.
Cedrick Chatman, 17, was shot by police in January 2013, and his family wants surveillance videos of the shooting made public as they push forward with a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and two police officers.
Officers were chasing Chatman in connection with a car theft when police shot him.
Even though the city recently agreed to release videos of two other fatal police shootings – the cases of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and 25-year-old Ronald Johnson – city attorneys have argued releasing the video of Chatman's shooting could compromise jury selection for the pending trial in the lawsuit.
Last month, another judge declined the family's request to release the video, and they have asked another judge to overrule her.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said he would rule in January whether the videos should be released, after taking time to consider how the release of the video might affect the trial. He ordered both sides to submit written briefs on whether the video might affect any ruling he might have to make before trial.
Gettleman said he will rule on the matter on Jan. 14.
Podcast
Chatman family attorney Brian Coffman said it was ironic that, while city attorneys were fighting the release of the video in federal court, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was a few blocks away giving a speech to the City Council about the need the Police Department's relationship with the public. In that speech, Emanuel acknowledged that delaying the release of the Laquan McDonald video helped undermine public trust.
"Every day that we held on to the video contributed to the public's distrust, and that needs to change," Emanuel said.
Coffman said the mayor's speech is at odds with the arguments of city attorneys.
"You've got Mayor Emanuel giving a speech about change and transparency, and a few blocks away you have his city lawyers taking the opposite stance and view," he said. "Having them again stating that the video should not come out, it should be kept out of the public eye, there's a bit of a conflict there."
Police have said Chatman pointed a dark object at officers as he was running away, so police shot him in fear for their lives.
Coffman said Chatman was not armed, and the videos of the shooting show him running away from officers without turning or pointing anything at them.
"The video shows Mr. Chatman running away as fast as he possibly can in a clear sunny blue day, just like today," Coffman said. "He's not carrying any type of weapon in his hand. He's not taking any types of movements towards the officers."
Former IPRA supervising investigator Lorenzo Davis found the Chatman shooting to be unjustified. Civil rights attorney Torri Hamilton represents Davis. She told CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot her client was fired for refusing, to change his report.
"This is a watershed moment in Chicago, I think and I think that it's forcing change," she said.
And Hamilton says in the long term, if the correct change is made, it will decrease the city's financial liability for police misconduct, but that can only happen, if the lack of accountability in a broken system is fixed.
