(CNN)No criminal charges will be filed against the Chicago police officer who shot and killed Ronald Johnson in October 2014, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said Monday. Johnson was armed with a loaded gun at the time of the shooting, she said.
At a news conference, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn McCarthy played dashboard camera video of the shooting for reporters. The video appeared to show Johnson running away from police officers and into a public park. Out of view of the camera, the 25-year-old was shot twice, she said.
For nearly an hour, McCarthy used a PowerPoint presentation to explain in detail where police cars were and where Johnson ran from officers. The officers were in the area responding to numerous 911 calls from residents saying that shots had been fired. Some of those calls were played at the news conference. McCarthy explained that Johnson had been in a car with three other people that was shot at, had left the scene and then returned. While officers were interviewing one of the men in that car, Johnson tried to run.
An independent police board reviewed the dashboard camera video, McCarthy said, and decided that Officer George Hernandez was not wrong for shooting Johnson.
It's impossible to tell, based on the video shown at the news conference, if there was anything in Johnson's hand because the footage is too blurry and grainy. McCarthy played it at normal speed and then in slow motion. What is clear is that a man who McCarthy said was Johnson is seen running around a corner. Two officers appear to be chasing him, and they round the corner, too. Johnson runs across the street toward a park.
He crossed into the park and, out of the camera's range, was shot.
McCarthy and Alvarez said that officers reported that Johnson had a gun.
McCarthy showed a photo of a gun that she said was taken from the scene and had grass lodged in it. That gun, she said, was tied to a shooting that occurred in Chicago in 2013.
Alvarez called Hernandez's actions "reasonable and permissible."
A mother pushed for video to be released
Johnson's mother, Dorothy Holmes, who earlier said she had seen the video, has said that it proved her son was murdered. She and her attorney had pushed authorities to make the footage public.
Earlier Monday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the Justice Department would be conducting a sweeping investigation of the Chicago Police Department's use-of-force practices and whether there are racial and ethnic disparities in how officers use force.
Ronald Johnson and his mother, Dorothy Holmes.
The push to make the Johnson shooting video public had been months in the making.
Holmes filed a federal lawsuit against Chicago police shortly after her son's death, and the defendants filed a motion to block the video's release. Holmes' attorney Michael D. Oppenheimer then filed a Freedom of Information Act request, arguing that the footage was public record. That was denied.
He said last week on CNN that the video shows that Johnson was not carrying a weapon, "nor did he ever turn and point anything."
"The Police Department planted that gun because there's no way anything would have stayed in Ronald Johnson's hand after he was shot," the attorney said.
Chicago police have not responded to CNN's request for comment.
Bailey Wetzel-4th
ReplyDeleteI think that another story of how a policeman shot and killed a person because of racial views is ridiculous. Every officer is put through a job hiring process, and I'm sure that they screen for the person being racist. Also the police men at the scene said that they were"responding to numerous 911 calls from residents saying that shots had been fired"(CNN). The officers were just doing their job, because a man had been firing shots then ran when the police arrived.
I don't understand why this keeps happening. If a cop tells you to stop, and you stop, everything's great. Don't run from police, and then expect to press charges for abuse. When people go after the police for being racists who kill for sport, all you end up with is a bunch or angry people and you further the gap between the american peoples. P officers are some of the bravest men and women in our country, its time that people give them the respect that they deserve.
ReplyDeletePersonally i believe that all this talk that every black person that gets shot it is somehow a race crime, i think that the reason all these people keep getting shot is because the officer is fearful after events such as the Ferguson riots and the shootings that are starting to occur daily out there you never know who you could be dealing with so the fear takes over and the officer gets scared. Also there is the factor that the person is reacting and could be making suspicious movements. The solution for this is to train officers for these newer situations and wearing body cameras to prevent all these court cases.
ReplyDeleteIt is silly that an officer is considered racist for acting upon an African American. The officer was trained to react the way he did and should not be punished for it. This case is waste of the court's time. Instead of calling police officers racist and other degrading names society must learn to respect them. They are brave enough to keep the job they have and face the abuse of society.
ReplyDeleteI think that Ronald shouldn't have run from the police. Whenever someone runs from the police some type of weapon is pulled out. I don’t think he got shot because of “racial views” but if he had a weapon the only logical thing for the police to do is pull out a weapon as well that’s what they're trained to do in that situation. If Ronald would of stopped running he most definitely wouldn't of gotten shot. And their is obviously evidence that Ronald was running away from the police and was armed with a loaded gun so this case should just be dropped.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this shooting was not racially charged but instead the cop was just doing his job. I mean when the "numerous 911" calls came from the area stating that there were " gunshots " must have had the cop thinking when he responded, that he might have to use lethal force in order to control the situation. Also its not like any joe on the street could become a cop it requires a for extensive background check along with certain training for situations like this. Proving that this policeman was doing what he was trained to do and rightfully so.
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Despite many recent race-based shootings, I don't think this was because of race. No matter what color someone's skin is, if he/she runs from police officers while "armed with a loaded gun", they're are considered a threat (CNN). The police officers were doing what they were trained to do and I believe in this situation, what they did was justified.
ReplyDeleteNow a days cops are using their guns to handle violence in many wrong ways. They think its ok to go ahead and shoot people who are just showing violent movements. So therefore, i think that the man should have been press charged for killing the young man. The shooting i believe had to do with race because hes black that would mean hes more violent and trying to hurt the cop so therefore the cop shot and killed him. I don't think this is ok at all and we should stop giving the cops so much power over the people.
ReplyDeleteRecently, many cops have been using their weapons in unnecessary moments. In this incident, the cop wasn't even sure that the young man even had a weapon. If the cop was unsure f this, he should have never fired. Even if the young man had a weapon, the cop should have waited until it was necessary to shoot. This is not okay and this cop should be punished, cops shouldn't have this much power over evryone else.
ReplyDeleteRecently, there has been an unnecessary outbreak of police brutality. There have been many cases in which I have agreed that the authorities actions were out of hand, however, I do not think officer Hernandez should be charged with the murder of Ronald Johnson. Johnson ran from the police and was carrying a weapon, and even though it was not loaded, it "was tied to a shooting that occurred in Chicago in 2013" (CNN). I do think that Hernandez should have taken better control of the situation, and not shoot to kill the man, but he was thrown in a difficult position. -period 2
ReplyDeleteI think the police in brutality in the US is over the top. Police are getting way to much power. I saw the video of the guy with the knife in the London subway and the police took care of the problem way differently. The police in a calm way tazed the man and didn't shoot or kill him. The US the police system lately has been killing too many innocent people. Johnson "the man in the video was not carrying a weapon nor did he ever turn and point anything" (CNN). It is really hard watching all these people getting killed by police for the dumbest reasons.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is at the point in America that people are just willing to blame anyone for anything. Yes there have been police brutality cases, but some of them seem very over the top. Yes there are some bad cops out there, that a racist, and did not make the right decision. But there are also the cops who DO THEIR JOBS RIGHT and protect the public, not because of race, because of safety. People have gotten to the point where you can't even look at someone with out them taking offense to it. This police officer was just doing his job. The suspect was claimed to have gun and was a threat to the public safety.
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