A prosecutor who hinted in court that 13-year-old Hispanic boy Adam Toledo was holding a pistol the moment he was shot to death by a Chicago police officer was put on leave a day after a video showing that the minor does not have anything in his hands was revealed to the public.
“Last week in court, a prosecutor from our office failed to fully present the facts surrounding the death of a 13-year-old boy,” said Sarah Sinovic, the spokeswoman for Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx, in a statement. “We have put that individual on leave and are conducting an internal investigation into the matter.”
During an April 10 bail hearing for Ruben Roman, a 21-year-old who was with Adam when he was shot on March 29, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy appeared to imply that the boy was still holding the gun when the police officer Eric Stillman pulled the trigger.
“The agent told (Adam) to let go of her when (Adam) turns to the agent. (Adam) has a gun in his right hand, ”Murphy said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. “The agent shoots (Adam) once, hitting him in the chest. The gun that (Adam) was holding fell against the fence a few feet away”.
However, Murphy did not explain what the video and still images taken of him show: that Adam had nothing in his hands when he was shot and had dropped or thrown the gun less than a second before the officer fired at him. Police found the gun next to a fence a short distance from the scene after the incident.
According to the Chicago Tribune newspaper, Foxx told staff in an email that the language in the statement Murphy read in court “does not fully reflect all of the evidence that had been delivered to our office.”
The 13-year-old boy died after being shot by a policeman.
But on Friday, Sinovic hinted that Murphy may not have had access to the full video that was released publicly Thursday at the time of his remarks, telling the Sun-Times: “What videos were made available to (Murphy) remains under investigation. We continue to try to find out what he had access to when he made those statements in court. ”
On Saturday, Sinovic noted in an email that the state prosecutor’s office will not comment on who else in the prosecution saw the video before the April 10 hearing, nor will it answer any other questions.
The decision to press charges against Stillman will rest with the Cook County State Attorney’s Office, which will receive the report from the Office of Civil Police Responsibility after that independent board completes its investigation.
Activists plan to demonstrate in downtown Chicago on Wednesday to condemn the deaths of people at the hands of officers after the family of the 13-year-old boy asked that no images of the incident be released.
Several jurists said Friday that they do not believe Stillman could be charged under the criteria set out in a 1989 Supreme Court ruling on the use of police force, although one of them said prosecutors could see enough evidence to justify presenting a manslaughter charge and allowing a jury to decide guilt or innocence.
The death of the Hispanic minor at the hands of Stillman adds to the tensions arising from police procedures in Chicago and other parts of the United States, particularly in the black and Latino communities.
The videos and other investigative materials are set against the backdrop of the Minneapolis trial of former agent Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd and the recent death of another black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of police in one of the suburbs. of that city.