Chicago police release fragmented video of the death of unarmed teen Paul O'Neal

On Friday, the Chicago Police Department released footage of the killing of Paul O'Neal, an unarmed African-American teenager who was fatally shot by police during and after an attempted escape with a stolen vehicle.

The video has immediately raised controversy as it does not include the exact moment of the 18-year-old's death on July 28. Police insist the footage gap occurred because an officer's body camera was not recording — having possibly sustained damage when O'Neal crashed the Jaguar he was driving into a police car — but critics suspicious of what they believe to be a convenient error have called for a special prosecutor to investigate the case.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the film "raised a lot of questions about whether departmental policies were followed," adding that officers will be held accountable for their actions "should wrongdoing be discovered." Chicago cops are prohibited from firing at a moving vehicle if the car "is the only force used against the [police] or another person," which was the case for O'Neal.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Protesters took to the streets of Chicago Friday afternoon and evening, gathering outside police headquarters and at an intersection near where O'Neal was shot. "We stopped the train, we stopped the buses, we stopped the traffic," said one activist, Rev. Jedidiah Brown. "This is epic. There's no words to describe it."