A 13-year-old boy fleeing from a stolen car was chased by police on foot and is now paralyzed. As per the video from the body camera of a Chicago Police officer, the chase ended when one of the officers fired at the boy.
Per NPR, the bullet severely damaged a part of the Black teen's spine, which may cause his paralysis to become permanent.
The Civilian Office of the Police Accountability, an independent oversight office, is now investigating the alleged shooting after the teenager's lawyers and witnesses confirmed that the boy's hands were raised when the police fired at him on May 18.
The officer who shot the boy, Noah Ball, assumed that the boy was pointing a weapon, which turned out to be a cellphone.
Chasing an unarmed boy
An officer jumped out of his car and chased the boy in the footage. Other officers joined the chase, which led them to a nearby west side Chicago Marathon gas station. One officer fired his gun thrice.
The teenager's lawyer argued the boy was unarmed and trying to surrender.
On the other hand, Ball's lawyer said the police officer mistook a large cellphone the suspect was holding for a gun; thus, he decided to fire at the boy.
"His hands are up"
According to CNN, one officer went closer to where the boy was and said, "Jesus f**king Christ, dude." He asked if anyone got hit, and when he noticed the suspect was injured, he called for an ambulance.
Ball did not activate his body camera at the time of the shooting. He only turned it on 40 seconds after the shooting. After he turned on his camera, Ball asked another officer if their camera was on, to which the other officer said yes.
Andrew Stroth, one of the boy's lawyers, said that the boy's hands were up before the shooting. There was no justification for the officer to shoot him. Some people at the scene that fateful night also agreed.
One bystander can be heard yelling, "He had his f**king hands up!"
Another witness said that the boy's hands were up, and he did not have a gun with him at the time of the shooting.
Stroth stressed that the boy was trying to surrender, and the pursuit should not have happened.
After the shooting, two officers lifted the boy by his sweatshirt and legs and carried him away from the gas pump. The police explained that they moved the boy away from what might have been combustible gas pumps, ABC Chicago reports.
Officer Ball was relieved of his police powers two days after the shooting, pending the outcome of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigation.
Related Article: San Diego Teen Who Returned Purse to a Woman's Front Door Gets $17,000 Reward from Strangers
