This image from Chicago Police Department body-cam video shows the moment before Chicago Police Officer Eric Stillman fatally shot Adam Toledo, 13, on March 29, 2021, in Chicago. Chicago Police Department via AP.
On March 29, a Chicago police officer shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo while responding to a report of “shots fired.”
On Thursday, police body-camera footage of the killing was released to the public. The video appears to show police engaging in a short foot pursuit of Toledo, who is holding what police claim was a handgun. The officer is heard yelling commands for Toledo to “show me your hands” and “drop it” before Toledo raises his empty hands in the air and is shot dead by the officer.
The goal of this video is to illustrate how video evidence of police use of force may be analyzed by those charged with evaluating the reasonableness of an officer’s behavior.
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Thomas Owen Baker worked as a police officer for approximately nine years. He is currently pursuing his PhD in criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and was selected by the Pat Tillman Foundation in 2018 as a Tillman Scholar. His research focuses on police use of force and its social implications. Follow him on Twitter @thomasowenbaker or catch him discussing the policing on The Discipline and Punish Podcast.
