© IPRA Chicago / Vimeo
Three surveillance video clips have been released of the police pursuit of unarmed Kajuan Raye, who was fatally shot by an officer during a November chase. The footage does not indicate Raye pointed an object at the officer, as police have claimed.
The footage shows that a Chicago Police Department SUV pulled up to a street corner where Raye, a black man, was reportedly waiting for a bus in the Englewood neighborhood of the city. Raye then sprinted down the street to flee police, with an officer, presumably Sergeant John Poulos, the white officer who shot Raye, in pursuit.
None of the clips, all from different angles of the chase, show that Raye had a weapon, nor do they indicate that the 19-year-old turned around and pointed an object at the chasing officer during the pursuit, as Poulos has claimed to justify his use of deadly force. The clips also do not show the moment that Poulos shot Raye.
The surveillance video clips were
released late Monday by Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA). Officers were responding to a report of a battery in progress, according to police, at around 11:00pm on November 23.
Raye "matched the description of the offender," Chicago PD Superintendent Eddie Johnson said after the fatal shooting. Though the Chicago PD said Raye twice "turned and pointed" a weapon at Poulos during the chase, no weapon was uncovered near the scene of the shooting.
An autopsy found that Raye was shot in the back, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Poulos' claim that Raye had a gun is "simply ridiculous,"
according to Michael Oppenheimer, an attorney for Raye's family, which sued Poulos in December for "unjustified and excessive use of force."
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