Does Adam Toledo's death footage match Chicago police reports? Inconsistencies reveal errors in cop's version
Less than a second passed between Adam Toledo being told to “show me your f---ing hands” by a Chicago police officer, before he was fatally shot. The 13-year-old Toledo was shot dead on March 29 by officer Eric Stillman. On Thursday, April 15, body camera footage of the incident, the incident report, and the tactical response report were released to the public by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, an independent board that probes Chicago police shootings.
In the incident report on the March 29 shooting, the 34-year-old officer identifies the victim as a "John Doe", who is an adult between the ages of 18 and 25. NPR reported that another person who was taken into custody on that day, 21-year-old Ruben Roman Jr, gave a wrong name for Toledo when questioned. This delayed his correct identification.
However, with the help of missing persons' reports, police identified the boy correctly. Ronam Jr has been accused by police of firing a gun at a passing car. He has also been held responsible for the tragedy that happened on March 29.
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According to Business Insider, police have wrongly stated events in their account of what actually happened and that it doesn't match the body cam footage. The tactical response report, for instance, mentioned that Toledo "did not follow verbal direction" - and that the cop faced an “imminent threat of battery with weapon” and said the teenager “used force likely to cause death or great bodily harm.” But the footage released on Thursday, April 15, varies from this version of events by police.
The bodycam clip showed Toledo possessing a handgun, but he threw it away behind a fence before turning to face the cop while holding his hands up. Toledo’s family attorney Adeena Weiss-Ortiz said Thursday, April 15 that the teen obeyed the officer. He had no gun when Stillman shot him in the chest. Weiss-Ortiz added, “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.”
Earlier, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office told a judge the teen was holding a gun when he was gunned down. “The officer tells [Toledo] to drop it — ‘drop it, drop it’ — as [Toledo] turns toward the officer. [Toledo] has a gun in his right hand. The officer fires one shot at [Toledo], striking him in the chest,” a prosecutor said to the judge.
Just before the footage was released for the public, Sarah Sinovic, spokeswoman for the State’s Attorney’s Office, said in a statement: “An attorney who works in this office failed to fully inform himself before speaking in court. Errors like that cannot happen and this has been addressed with the individual involved. The video speaks for itself.” Sinovic, however, failed to give the reason why it took five days for prosecutors to rectify that information.