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[h=4]No charges in second Chicago police shooting[/h]Police video shows the fatal shooting of Ronald Johnson
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No charges will be filed against Detective George Hernandez who shot 25 year-old Ronald Johnson just a few days before the Laquan McDonald shooting. USA TODAY
This June 2014 photo provided by Dorothy Holmes, shows Holmes' 25-year-old son Ronald Johnson, who was fatally shot by Chicago police on Oct. 12, 2014.(Photo: AP)
CHICAGO —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>No charges will be filed against a Chicago police officer in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the death of a 25-year-old man who was shot by a detective days before the Laquan McDonald shooting.
Detective George Hernandez shot Ronald Johnson, a father of five who lived on the city's South Side, on Oct 12, 2014. The shooting came eight days before the officer-involved shooting of McDonald, which has set off nearly two weeks of protest since the city was forced by court order to release disturbing police dashcam video of the confrontation.
Police said after the Johnson incident that he had pointed a gun at officers.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez<span style="color: Red;">*</span> on Monday said her office 's review of the case confirms that Johnson had a weapon when he was running away from police and was shot.
Johnson's family has alleged in a wrongful death lawsuit that police planted a weapon at the scene after the fact.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Alvarez said DNA evidence on the weapon recovered at the scene, interviews with a friend of Johnson who was at the scene as well as police radio minutes after the shooting of Johnson<span style="color: Red;">*</span>suggests he did have a gun.
Alvarez said the grainy video wasn't Hollywood quality but backs up Hernandez's contention that he was acting in a reasonable manner.
USA TODAY
Justice Department launches Chicago police probe
USA TODAY
Chicago to release police shooting video of Ronald Johnson
"I'm looking at this and it appears he has an object in his hand," Alvarez said as she presented dashcam video of the incident to reporters on Monday.
Johnson was killed after attending what family attorney Michael Oppenheimer described as a memorial gathering for a friend who had recently been killed. Police arrived on the scene after the car that Johnson was riding in had a window shot out. Johnson tried to run from police and was chased by officers.
Hernandez pulled up on the pursuit of Johnson in an unmarked squad car. He fired on Johnson five times as the young man was running away, striking him in the back of the knee and in the back of the shoulder, according to Oppenheimer.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>One of the two shots that hit Johnson struck a jugular vein and exited from his eye socket.
"The physical evidence, the police radio transmissions and dashboard video recordings reveal that, at a minimum, it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Hernandez's actions in firing his weapon at Johnson were unjustified," Alvarez concluded.
POLICING THE USA
Policing the USA
Oppenheimer accused Alvarez of ignoring evidence damaging Hernandez.
"This is a joke," Oppenheimer said after Alvarez announced her decision. "This is the blind leading the blind."
Alvarez pushed back against Oppenheimer's allegation that the weapon was planted by cops.
"This allegation is not supported by any of the evidence in this case," Alvarez said. "All of the evidence we have points to that Mr. Johnson did indeed have a gun."
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Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the Justice Department will investigation into the patterns and practices of the Chicago Police Department and it's use of deadly force. (Dec. 7) AP
The driver of the car that Johnson had been in prior to his confrontation with police also told investigators that he heard Johnson loading a weapon in the backseat of the car just before the incident with police, Alvarez said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Police also recovered an unused bullet on the floor of the backseat where Johnson had been sitting.
The police dashcam video has no sound, which was also the case in the Laquan McDonald case. Alvarez offered no explanation for why the audio was not running in the Johnson shooting video.
In the video, the muzzle flash from Hernandez firing his weapon can be seen as Johnson runs toward a park. The video, however, does not show Johnson being struck by bullets.
In the McDonald case, police and police union officials initially reported<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that the teen, who was holding a knife and had PCP in his system, had lunged at officer Jason Van Dyke before he opened fire. The police dashcam video, however, appears to show that McDonald was moving away from Van Dyke when the officer<span style="color: Red;">*</span>opened fire.
Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder and is free after posting $150,000 on a $1.5 million bond.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>In the aftermath of the release of the McDonald video, protesters again took<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to the streets —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and called for Mayor Rahm<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Emanuel and Alvarez<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to resign.
Emanuel on Tuesday fired his police superintendent,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Garry McCarthy, saying public confidence in police leadership<span style="color: Red;">*</span>had been "shaken and eroded," making it untenable for McCarthy to continue to serve as the city's top cop.
On Sunday, the mayor announced the ouster of Scott Ando, the head of the Independent Police Review Authority, the civilian agency tasked with investigating serious allegations of police misconduct. There have been more than 400 police-involved shootings in Chicago since 2007, but the authority has only found two unjustified.
Following Alvarez's announcement on Monday, Emanuel said the authority would resume its investigation of the Johnson shooting.
“Now, as our independent police review authority resumes its investigation to determine whether the shooting was consistent with CPD’s policy, we must also ask ourselves if the existing policies on the use of deadly force are the right ones and if the training we provide to officers to make split-second decisions in life or death situations is sufficient,” Emanuel said
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