Supt. Johnson praises officers for Englewood confrontation after video goes viral

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Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is speaking out about the violent confrontation involving three officers.

They were locked inside an Englewood home and allegedly attacked.

“That was a terrible incident and those individuals need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent,” Johnson said.

Superintendent Johnson's gave his first comments Wednesday about the Facebook video showing Chicago police officers allegedly under attack in an Englewood home after the suspects they were pursuing had locked them inside. Officers handled the situation without firing a shot, and three officers were injured.

“I think those officers showed incredible restraint under a clearly terrible incident,” Johnson said.

Police say it all began when Janice Lewis spit on a police officer after her boyfriend, Senneca Traylor, had flipped them off. They say he later struck an officer with a two-by-four. They're among four people charged in the incident.

“Those people do not represent the majority of people in that neighborhood. And if they want to act the fool, then that's how they should be treated,” Johnson said.

Superintendent Johnson also said he doesn't think the recent prosecution and guilty verdict involving Officer Jason Van Dyke had anything to do with the reluctance of these officers to fire their weapons.

“I'm not going to say that that caused any hesitation on their part, I'm just going to say that they used the force that they thought was necessary at that time,” Johnson said.

Traylor's mother says publicity from the Laquan McDonald case has no connection to the alleged attack on police. She says it may have been a response to weeks of police harassment.

“Ronald McDonald or whatever the name is that ain't been going on. Tt really been spiraling for three weeks. This been going on for a month and a half,” said Latoya Traylor.