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IPRA releases video from Kajuan Raye shooting

Published  January 24, 2017 7:42pm CST
Chicago
FOX 32 Chicago

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - Chicago’s police oversight agency Monday released video from the fatal shooting of Kajuan Raye by Officer John Poulos in November.

Grainy surveillance video posted on the Independent Police Review Authority website shows a marked police SUV racing up to the 19-year-old on a South Side street corner. The teen sprints down the street, with an officer — presumably Sgt. John Poulos, the officer who shot Raye — giving chase, followed by the police SUV.

None of the three camera angles posted to the IPRA site show Poulos firing at Raye, nor does the footage show the teen turning toward Poulos during the portion of the chase captured on film.

Poulos told investigators that Raye twice turned and appeared to point a gun at him before the officer opened fire on the fleeing teen, though no gun was found despite an extensive search. An autopsy showed Raye was shot in the back.

Poulos, who was cleared of wrongdoing after fatally shooting another unarmed man in 2013, was put on desk duty after the shooting, then he was stripped of his police powers days later after CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson said there were “unanswered questions” about Raye’s death.

The videos posted Monday show the foot chase from three different angles, though none of the video is from the vantage point of a dashboard camera or body-worn camera. Police officials have not said whether there was body camera footage of the chase, though an IPRA spokeswoman said officers in the district had not yet been issued body cameras.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel last year mandated that IPRA release all video from investigations of fatal shootings or incidents in which someone was grievously injured, a policy that was recommended by Emanuel’s hand-picked Police Accountability Task Force.

Poulos was responding to a report of a battery in progress when he drove up to Raye in the 1400 block of West 65th Street around 11 p.m., police said. A friend who was with Raye said they were waiting for a bus when the officers approached and Raye took off running. Raye had pleaded guilty to theft charges in 2015 and had been placed on court supervision, though an arrest warrant was issued several months later, after he violated his supervision.