(CHICAGO) Two Chicago Police officers have been “relieved of their police powers” after fatally shooting an 18-year-old man when he tried to speed away from a traffic stop in the South Shore neighborhood Thursday night, police said.
“CPD investigators determined [three] officers discharged their weapons in the course of their duties and given what is known thus far, it appears that departmental policies may have been violated by at least [two] of the police officers,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in an email Friday night.
“As of now, the two officers have been relieved of their police powers and will be assigned to administrative positions within the agency pending the outcome of IPRA’s investigation and our continuing internal administrative review,” Guglielmi said.
The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. in the 7400 block of South Merrill, where officers tried to pull over a Jaguar convertible that had been reported stolen earlier in the day from southwest suburban Bolingbrook, Guglielmi said.
The Jaguar was blocked in by at least two police vehicles, but the officers opened fire when the driver tried to take off, side-swiping one squad car and crashing into a parked vehicle, Guglielmi said.
The man shot was identified Friday night as 18-year-old Paul O’Neal, of the 1700 block of East 70th Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. O’Neal was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died at 9:08 p.m. Another person in the car was arrested and taken in for questioning.
“While the chronology of events is complex and still under formal investigation by IPRA, [Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson] spent most of this afternoon with top advisors and command staff reviewing the preliminary information from the incident,” Guglielmi said Friday night.
The officers involved were wearing body cameras, and the police vehicles at the scene had their cameras activated, Guglielmi said Thursday.
The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the use of force.