Paul O’Neal shooting: New video shows police officers putting teenager in handcuffs while he was dying

Chicago police release recordings that show officers apparently manhandling the victim even as he lay bleeding on the ground

Rachael Revesz
New York
Friday 05 August 2016 20:40 BST
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O'Neal is shot and bleeding on the ground as police manhandle him
O'Neal is shot and bleeding on the ground as police manhandle him (IPRA)

Chicago police have released a string of videos showing officers firing their guns at a stolen car, giving chase and then shooting and handcuffing the 18-year-old driver as he lay wounded.

Paul O'Neal died from his injuries that day.

The shocking footage shows him being manhandled even after suffering a fatal gunshot wound.

Chicago's police department has been under intense pressure to reform since the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014.

It released the video under new rules from mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Police Accountability Task Force which recommended video and audio be made public within 60 days of an incident.

Mr O’Neal’s family is suing the police department and their lawyer, Michael Oppenheimer, said: “It is one of the most horrific things I have seen.

“It's unclear as to whether or not he was the actual shooter, but you are going to hear one of the police officers say, 'Now I'm going to get a 30-day suspension'.”

Warning: The video below contains graphic content

The footage, which was released to the victim’s family on Friday morning, was captured on the officer’s body cam. It starts with one officer jumping out of his patrol car as another car speeds past - a stolen black Jaguar allegedly being driven by the teenager.

Police fire multiple shots and the car crashes into two police vehicles further down the street.

Several police officers give chase on foot behind a house, jump over the fence and follow the driver into the garden.

While one officer is trying to get through to the garden, four shots can be heard. The shooting was not caught on video even though the officer who fired his gun was wearing a body camera.

The officer in question, reportedly the one who fired his gun, runs round the other side of the house to find Mr O’Neal, lying on the ground, bleeding, with one officer’s leg pinning him down.

One officer can be heard shouting “get your hands behind your back mother***er”.

The officer with the bodycam rushes forward as the victim is already surrounded by his colleagues, shoves the teenager’s head onto the ground and yanks his arms behind his back to put him in handcuffs with the help of an another officer.

They search through his backpack and do not attempt First Aid on the victim.

Police discuss how many times they fired and if they were all unharmed after the incident.

“He shot back, right?” one officer asks.

“I shot him once, I think,” he adds.

Three officers have been stripped of their badges and guns since the incident last Thursday and the killing is being investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority.

The footage has prompted outrage among civil rights activists. It is also likely to cause dismay among Chicago officials who, after decades of controversial police shootings, had finally made some progress over the last eight months since an officer shot black 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.

Ja’Mal Green, an activist who is acting as the family’s spokesman, said it was “amazing” how the officers “treat us like savages.”

He claimed the officers showed no remorse as Mr O’Neal lay on the ground.

“That was very shocking to me,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “It was very hard for me to watch this video as well.”

Sharon Fairley, the head of the police oversight agency, said in a statement that the incident was “shocking and disturbing”.

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