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Who is Eric Stillman? Chicago police officer who shot teen Adam Toledo received a 'military service award'

Newly released graphic videos show the police officer shooting the 13-year-old
UPDATED APR 16, 2021
Eric Stillman shot and killed Adam Toledo (COPA, Family handout/Twitter)
Eric Stillman shot and killed Adam Toledo (COPA, Family handout/Twitter)

Chicago police bodycam video footage that caught on cameras the deadly police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, was released to the public on Thursday, April 15, by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, as many as 16 days after the incident. Eric Stillman is named in police reports as the Chicago police officer who shot and killed the teenager.

Nearly 30 pieces of video and other materials related to the shooting were posted to the COPA website just after 2.30 pm on Thursday.

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The COPA on April 15, 2021, released graphic videos that show the police officer chasing Toledo through an alley, with the officer yelling at Toledo to stop. Stillman yells, “Hey show me your f***ing hands, drop it.” Toledo appears to have stopped running near a gap in a fence between the alley and a church parking lot and appears to toss the gun behind the fence moments before he is shot.



 

Who is Eric Stillman?

Eric E Stillman, who served in the military and received a commendation along with some complaints, joined the Chicago Police Department in 2015. Stillman is a White male with the rank of police officer, who has a base salary of $72,510, according to the Citizens Police Data Project. The 34-year-old has been on the force since August 31, 2015. He was assigned to the 10th District, beat 1065b. 

He has no complaints on his record to begin with, according to original information from the database. However, according to the Invisible Institute, which runs the database, the information has been updated to show three complaints and four use of force reports between 2017 and mid-2020. The complaints are as follows, as per data from the Invisible Institute

CLEAR: 04D: Search - Person / Property

​​10/11/2018, 7:30 PM, beat 1023 (“Hospital building/grounds”)
​​Finding of “Unfounded”
​​
​​CMS: Fourth Amendment/Improper Search (Off-Duty)

​​11/29/2019, 9:20 AM, beat 1021
​​One of three accused officers
​​Civilian complaint: “Complainant alleges that he was illegally stopped and searched during a traffic stop. Complainant alleges that he did not give officers permission to search his vehicle. Complainant noted that accused officers claimed that the stop was due to obstruction of view (complainant had cellphone mount on windshield). He alleges that one of the officers was verbally aggressive and rude. Complainant also alleges that accused officers did not activate BWC until after he asked officers "is this being recorded?", which he alleges was approximately 7 minutes after initial stop.”
​​Investigation pending, no finding
​​
​​CMS: Fourth Amendment/Improper Search

​​10/28/2020, beat 1021
​​Only accused officer
​​Civilian complaint: "the accused officer allegedly unlawfully searched the R/P’s vehicle during a traffic stop. The accused allegedly removed a small razor that the R/P had inside his vehicle.”
​​“Closed/No Finding”

 The use of force reports are as follows:

390743 - December 4 2017

Beat 1011A
Takedown/Emergency Handcuffing, Other

790629 - December 27 2018

Beat 1067B
Wristlock, Takedown/Emergency Handcuffing, Open Hand Strike

869491 - February 05 2019

Beat 1067B
Wristlock, Takedown/Emergency Handcuffing, Open Hand Strike, Escort Holds

1500757 - May 14 2019

Beat 1067C
No member action listed

Stillman has received one major award and eight honorable mentions, the records show. His awards include the “military service award” and “superintendent’s award of valor”.



 

A 'victim'

The original case incident report, which is dated March 29, 2021, lists Stillman as a “victim” in the Toledo shooting. The report goes on to provide some biographical information about the police officer and indicates that he was born in American Samoa (Islands) a group of Polynesian islands in the Pacific. Mortgage records show that he is unmarried.

“I do not think he will be prosecuted for a crime, and I do believe that if COPA and the Police Department are fair and look at the undisputed evidence, he will be exonerated of any type of a charge,” Tim Grace, Stillman’s lawyer, told Block Club Chicago. The site reported that the attorney “maintained Toledo was holding a gun at the moment he was shot, despite video evidence to the contrary.”

“He has a gun in his right hand. There’s no doubt in the world that he has a gun in his right hand," the site quoted Grace as saying.

'Broken up over fact that he had to use deadly force'

Stillman, according to the footage, tried to give Toledo CPR and appeared distraught in the bodycam videos after resuscitation failed, standing silently and then sitting down along a fence.

His attorney told Block Club Chicago that Stillman “absolutely broken up over the fact that he had to use deadly force.” “There is a callous disregard for the well-being of the officers who do not want to use deadly force ever. There has been no intellectual curiosity at all about what this officer is going through," he added.

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