Newly-Released Video Documents Waukegan Officer Dante Salinas' Remarks After He Shot And Killed Marcellis Stinnette
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) -- Newly-released video documents remarks from an officer who shot and killed Marcellis Stinnette and wounded Stinnette's girlfriend in Waukegan last month.
The now-fired officer, Dante Salinas, fired the shots just 12 seconds after walking up to the vehicle in which Stinnette was a passenger and his girlfriend, Tafara Williams, was behind the wheel.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, the City of Waukegan on Thursday released hours of video and hundreds of pages of documents connected with the shooting, which happened late on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 20.
First, Waukegan police Officer James Keating stops to investigate a car pulled over at Liberty and Oak streets. He recognizes Stinnette and Williams.
"What's your first name? You're Marcellis, right?" Keating is heard saying.
He then says, "You're under arrest, man." When Williams asks why Stinnette is under arrest, the officer replies, "because I said."
"Hey, come on, show me the hands, pal. I ain't playing with you because I know you. Marcellis, you're under arrest," Keating says.
"He's under arrest for what though?" Williams says.
"Because he got a warrant," Keating says.
A search warrant from the night of the shooting claims Stinnette had an outstanding warrant out of Florida for a probation violation. But it was non-extraditable, meaning Stinnete wouldn't be sent back for it.
Afterward, the car takes off from Officer Keating. Officer Salinas quickly finds them and radios in. Within 12 seconds of that, he fires his gun – just 12 seconds.
"He's moving, he's breathing, but I don't know how long he's got," Salinas is heard saying.
Stinnette was shot and killed and Williams severely injured.
Officer Keating was previously fired from the Maywood Police Department after about six weeks on the job, and also served as a Cook County correctional officer. As video showed, he was shaken up after the Waukegan incident, but said at the scene that he was "physically" fine.
Also, the newly-released video documents the first time you hear Officer Salinas explain why he fired into the car, as he is interviewed by another officer.
"It backed up right at me; it was in between my squad car…. I fired my weapon because I thought I was the next one run over," Salinas says.
We previously told you about another lawsuit of which Salinas is at the center. It stems from an unrelated incident last summer in which a Waukegan man, Angel Salgado, was arrested while attending a family baptism – even though Salgado says he was "behaving lawfully."
Salgado's lawsuit said Salinas "struck the plaintiff in the face with the butt of his weapon, causing severe lacerations and several bone fractures."
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