Chicago cop not charged in fatal shooting captured on video
A Chicago police officer will not be charged in the fatal shooting of a black man in an incident captured by a squad car's dashcam.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez announced Monday that she's not charging Officer George Hernandez in the shooting death of Ronald Johnson III in October 2014. Less than two weeks ago, another officer was charged in the fatal shooting of a black man recorded by a police car's dashcam.
Last month, Alvarez charged Jason Van Dyke with first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times.
Police say the 25-year-old Johnson pointed a gun at officers before Hernandez shot him in the back. Johnson's mother, who has been pressing the city to release the video, says it shows her son was running away from officers when he was shot.
The grainy dashcam video shows Johnson running across a street at night with several officers in pursuit. One officer begins shooting - fire flaring from the barrel - as Johnson runs.
"We're in different times right now when we're talking about transparency and what the public wants to see," Alvarez said after showing the video of the shooting. "I have pretty much opened the door here."
Prosecutors said he was hit just as his image goes out of view. Assistant State's Attorney Lynn McCarthy slowed down the video to show what she said was a gun in the 25-year-old black man's hand. She said it is a semiautomatic pistol with 12 live rounds loaded.
No audio was captured in the video, as in an earlier police shooting case. The lack of audio in the video showing the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald raised questions about whether officers might have switched audio off intentionally to conceal their actions.
When asked why there was no audio on this video and others, Alvarez said: "That's a problem for the Chicago police department and I think they need to answer to that. ... Time and time again we look at these videos and there is not any audio."
McCarthy said officers repeatedly shouted at Johnson to stop and drop his weapon but that he ignored these commands.
CBS Chicago reported that Johnson's mother, Dorothy Holmes, filed a federal lawsuit against Officer Hernandez and the city last year.
Michael Oppenheimer, attorney for Johnson's family, described the investigation as a "joke" and an affront to the man's family and Cook County citizens.
The dashcam video release comes as Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Monday the launching of an investigation into the Chicago Police Department for possible civil rights and other violations.