Chicago police shoot man in a subway station after he jumped between train cars, authorities say
Chicago police officers are under investigation for shooting a man in a subway station after he allegedly jumped between train cars — an incident captured in a viral video that Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) called “extremely disturbing.”
Filmed on Friday afternoon, the video captured two Chicago police officers cornering a man in the stairwell of a subway station while struggling to arrest him for the alleged city ordinance violation. The officers used their Tasers on the man, 33-year-old Ariel Roman, but as the struggle continued, one officer yelled, “Shoot him!”
And his partner did — twice. The officer fired the second shot as Roman was fleeing, video shows.
On Sunday, while Roman remained hospitalized, police moved to drop the resisting arrest and narcotics charges against him. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed to The Washington Post that the state’s attorney’s office agreed not to pursue the case.
“Given the totality of circumstances and the Department’s significant level of concern around this incident, it would be insensitive to advocate for these charges,” Guglielmi said in a statement earlier Sunday. “While we will not rush to judgment, the level of concern over the tactics used in this incident is significant.”
The two officers, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of investigations by both the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for criminal charges and by Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
[Editor’s note: Gunshots can be heard in the video below.]
In a Friday news conference, Chicago Police Deputy Superintendent Barbara West said the two officers were riding the subway when they observed Roman “jumping from train to train.” The officers tried to “make contact with him” but ended up chasing him out of the subway and into the Grand Red Line station. A passerby began filming them as they forced Roman onto the ground. Both officers used their Tasers on him, West said.
“I didn’t do nothing to you!” Roman says at one point while on the ground, according to the video.
The officers yell for Roman to “give me your hands,” while still struggling to cuff him.
“Stop resisting!,” both officers yell multiple times.
Roman rises to his feet, still struggling to break free from the male officer.
“Shoot him!,” the officer says to his partner.
The female officer steps back and pulls her gun from her hip, telling Roman to “put your [expletive] hands down!”
Roman puts his hand over his eyes, appearing to be tangled in the Taser’s cord, and takes one staggering step forward.
That’s when one of the officers shoots him.
Roman, wounded, runs up the escalator. As he flees with the officers in pursuit, another gunshot is heard off camera.
The video has since been viewed nearly 2 million times.
“With the strong caveat that one perspective does not depict the entirety of the incident, the video is extremely disturbing and the actions by these officers are deeply concerning,” Lightfoot said in a Friday statement. “I view this video with the eye of someone who has personally investigated numerous police-involved shootings and reviewed evidence of many more.”
She added that she supported interim police superintendent Charlie Beck’s decision to contact the state’s attorney “due to the potential criminal nature of this incident.”
An attorney for Roman’s family, Gloria Schmidt, told the Chicago Tribune that Roman was shot in the abdomen and in the buttocks area. He already underwent one surgery, she said, but will probably need multiple operations.
In a GoFundMe campaign, sister Wendy Roman said her brother has no health insurance, leading her to worry about his recovery from the serious injuries once he is discharged from emergency treatment.
“My brother has a long road ahead of him,” she wrote. “He will not be able to return to work for a long time. As a family, we are rich in our values and love but are of meager financial resources. I am confident his spirit will fully recover from this incident, but I know it will be a struggle for his body to do the same.”
The shooting is among several police incidents on city transit systems across the country, mostly in New York, that have drawn scrutiny from critics and watchdogs.
Last year, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) committed to funding 500 new officers on the New York subway to combat fare evasion and crime at the stations, prompting at least three mass protests calling for decreased police presence on the subway.
Those protests erupted after police were seen on video pointing guns at a 19-year-old fare evader in a crowded subway car last October. The police said they were acting on a tip that 19-year-old Adrian Napier was armed, but no gun was found. In another widely criticized incident that month, an officer was caught on video punching teenagers in the face on a subway platform while trying to break up a brawl.
The shooting in Chicago on Friday happened on the same day Lightfoot announced she was also increasing police presence in the city’s subway system, adding 50 officers. It’s unclear whether the officers involved in the shooting were part of the new campaign.
In a statement Saturday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois decried the police shooting of “a man who apparently did nothing more than jump trains,” saying the shooting was “evidence of the lack of meaningful de-escalation by Chicago police officers.”
The police union, however, said that the officers were “not receiving their due protection and consideration in a high-stress, dangerous incident.” Kevin Graham, the president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, criticized the mayor and police department for speaking out against the officers.
“Why has the superintendent and the Mayor not commented on the fact that not one individual assisted these officers during the struggle to place the offender clearly engaged in felony resisting into custody, an offender who once again failed to comply with police orders?” Graham said in a statement Saturday. “Why have they not commented on the potential evidence that the officers called for help but could not be heard on their radios in the CTA tunnels?”
Guglielmi said Sunday that the police department was “fully cooperating” with investigations by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and FBI, plus the administrative review by the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Meagan Flynn is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. She was previously a reporter at the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Press.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
© 1996-2020 The Washington Post
Finesse Cuts by Tony Wallace