On Wednesday, Chicago’s interim police superintendent Charlie Beck, at the advice of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, stripped two Chicago police officers of police powers after a viral video showed the officers firing shots at an unarmed man.
The shooting took place on Friday afternoon at a Red Line L station in downtown Chicago, where the two officers in question responded to another officer’s call for assistance with 33-year-old Ariel Roman, who was spotted jumping from one train car to another. The footage shows a male officer lying on top of Roman at the base of an escalator and struggling to keep the man still. Roman can be heard saying, “I did nothing to you,” as the officer keeps telling him, “Stop resisting.”
As they stand up, a female officer attempts to pepper spray the victim in the face, before demanding that he show his hands to be handcuffed. Roman refused to be handcuffed and, at some point, was able to break free. Once he began to run up the escalator, several gunshots can be heard being fired. Roman was shot in the abdomen and buttocks and remains in critical condition.
The unnamed officers have been placed on desk duty and forced to surrender their weapons. They have also lost their authority to make arrests until the investigation concludes.
“As a result of the Superintendent’s review of the incident, both of the involved officers have been relieved of their police powers pending the outcome of the external reviews into this matter,” police spokesman Thomas Ahern said in a statement.
Sydney Roberts, COPA’s chief administrator, released a statement on the matter Wednesday, stating, “Due to the serious nature of both officers’ actions, I felt it necessary to recommend the officers involved be relieved of police powers while we continue to investigate the incident.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot expressed his disdain, calling the video, “extremely disturbing.”
Two days after the shooting, officials revealed that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office had dropped resisting arrest and criminal narcotics charges against Roman, per Beck’s request.
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