CHICAGO – Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday called for reforms to how police pursue suspects on foot and urged a “thorough, expeditious” investigation into the death of a 13-year-old boy who was shot by a Chicago police officer last week.
But hours later, the family of Adam Toledo – who dreamed of becoming a police officer and was killed March 29 after police chased him into an alley – said they still hadn’t see the police body-cam video of the incident and were “concerned” by officials’ “hurtful and false mischaracterization” of Adam.
“We have requested expedited meetings with pertinent authorities to obtain evidence and to review the police body camera footage and other available video. To date, we have not received confirmation of a time to view the footage,” the family said in a statement through their attorneys, Adeena Weiss Ortiz and Joel Hirschhorn.
Tensions remain high across the city as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability prepares to release what it called “troubling video footage” of the shooting.
Lightfoot said the tragedy emphasizes the need to change Chicago police foot pursuit policy, saying such pursuits are one of the most dangerous activities police engage in because they are often separated from their partners and communication becomes difficult. She said there will be focus groups of officers and community members to evaluate best practices.
“We cannot and will not push the foot pursuit reform off for another day,” Lightfoot said at a news…
