MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Adam Toledo's shooting justified, says cop union chief John Catanzara: ‘Officer's actions were actually heroic’

'There's no way a rational person can say they can process that and their muscle reaction would be less than one second'

President of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police, John Catanzara, has “justified” the action of a police officer who allegedly fatally shot a 13-year-old boy, identified as Adam Toledo. Speaking with Chris Cuomo on CNN, Catanzara said that an “officer does not have to wait to be shot at or shot to respond and be able to defend himself”. As per reports, a screengrab of a 3 am footage has shown Toledo keeping his hands up when Chicago police officer Eric Stillman gunned him down after a foot chase on March 29. In the still frame, the teenager was not seen possessing a gun or anything.

Police said that Toledo had a handgun. They also stated that less than a second passed from when he was seen holding the gun and was wounded by the 34-year-old officer’s bullet. Earlier, bodycam footage also showed Toledo possessing a gun and then throwing it behind a fence before turning towards the cop, moments before the fire was opened.

READ MORE

Who is Elizabeth Toledo? Adam Toledo's mother says 13-year-old was 'full of life', wanted to be police officer

Who is John Catanzara? Chicago police union boss dubbed QAnon supporter for downplaying Capitol riots: 'Fire him'

Catanzara said on Cuomo Prime Time, “Time lapse photos show that the officer had 8/10ths of a second to determine if that weapon was still in his hands or not. Period. There's no way a rational person can say they can process that and their muscle reaction would be less than one second.” The Chicago police union boss then went on to protect Stillman as he asserted, “in reality, an average human being could not block someone from slapping him in the face in less time than that... It's a good reason why the officer only shot one. He would have been justified to shoot multiple times.” “The officer did everything he possibly could to the letter of the law and the guidelines of the Chicago Police Department,” he added.

The graphic footage of the March 29 shooting was released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, an independent board that probes Chicago police shootings, on Thursday, April 15. Before the footage was released, the victim’s family saw it privately on Tuesday, April 13. According to police, cops arrived at the 2300 block of South Sawyer, after receiving an alert of shots fired at 2.37 am in the area. After responding to the scene, they reportedly found two males, Toledo and a 21-year-old, named Ruben Roman Jr, who fled. As the cops chased them, one of the police officers later identified as Stillman opened fire, shooting Toledo in the chest. Roman Jr was later detained on a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.

Toledo’s family attorney Adeena Weiss-Ortiz said Thursday, April 15, “Those videos speak for themselves. If you are shooting an unarmed child with his hands in the air it is an assassination. His hands were empty when he was shot in the chest at the hands of the officer. Adam during his last seconds of life did not have a gun in his hand. Adam complied. He did not have a gun in his hand. The officer saw his hands were up and pulled the trigger.”

But Catanzara insisted on being the teenager at fault as he cited Toledo's alleged ties to the Latin Kings. He stated, “The poor young kid made a horrible decision that cost him his life, but it was justified, I will say. He's 13 years old. We talk about the public school system in Chicago specifically. He should have been in school. But we're not in school learning, now are we?”

But Cuomo interrupted him and accused him of tarnishing the boy’s image. “I'm just stating facts, I'm not smearing anybody,” Catanzara mentioned. The television journalist then asked Catanzara how was Stillman’s shooting justified “if you believe that it was obvious that the kid threw the gun behind the fence.” He responded, “because there's no way the officer could see where his arm went when it went behind that fence panel. The officer's actions were actually heroic.”