2 Chicago police officers have been charged with felony charges in the Pilsen shootings. “They shot me for no reason.”
Two Chicago police officers were charged in connection with a shooting on duty in Pilsen this summer, leaving two seriously injured and one seriously injured.
Officer Ruben Reinoso, 42 years old, Sergeant. Christopher Liakopoulos, 43, was charged with both of his two charges of aggravated battery from a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and official misconduct. They could face up to 30 years in prison for him, according to state attorney Kim Fox.
Officers have been accused of lying about being fired in the first place. At a press conference, Fox said their “claims contradict the evidence recorded on video,” indicating that they actually fired the first shot.
Reinoso has been with the company since 2003 and Liakopoulos since 2001, Fox said. Both were assigned to the Serious Accidents Unit at the time of the July 22nd shooting.
They were in plain clothes and in an unmarked police car when they stopped to investigate a group of people on the 1,000th block of West 18th Street around 7 a.m., sources told The Sun-Times. Told.
A shooting broke out and 23-year-old Miguel Medina was shot in the back and thigh. Fox said he did not own a firearm.
“The officers had no provocation or justification for shooting unarmed victims,” she said. “There is no evidence to support the use of lethal force.”
Another person opened fire on the street, but no officers were shot, Fox said.
Medina’s attorney said he plans to sue Liakopoulos on Friday in federal court, alleging false arrest and excessive violence.
“Miguel Medina did not commit any crime or break the law,” attorney Gregory Criss said in a statement. “Miguel Medina walked away. It is believed that at that time Chicago police officer Christopher Liacopoulos began firing at individuals, including Miguel Medina.”
Medina, who was contacted by phone on Friday, said the officer “shot me for no reason. When the video comes out, we’ll find out what happened.”
Medina said she was walking to her friend’s apartment the morning of the shooting and had nothing in her hand when she was shot. He was furious and said the city “should do a better job of hiring the police officers they put in place.”
“It pisses me off,” he said. “There are good cops, but there are bad cops.”
Medina said he was “slowly but surely recovering” from his wounds.
Chicago police spokesman Don Terry declined to comment on the police investigation.
“This is a criminal case now,” he said. “I have no further comments. What you have should be obtained from the state attorney who just gave the press conference.”
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown initially said officers approached a group of four masked people outside the store around 7 a.m. Brown said gunmen in the group “immediately” started firing at them in their patrol cars when the officers identified themselves.
A 35-year-old “innocent bystander” in the area suffered a grazing wound to the leg, Brown said at the time, suggesting the man was hit by a bullet fired by police or an individual in a group of officers. It’s unclear how they got closer, he added.
Authorities initially had only one video of the shooting, which was difficult to decipher and had no audio, according to sources familiar with the early police investigation. Brown’s allegations in the post-incident press conference relied primarily on false statements by the two indicted officers.
Some time later, more videos surfaced that contradicted those statements, sources said. However, Brown never explained to the media about the change in the narrative.
Police initially arrested a 17-year-old boy and a 25-year-old man after the incident, but the two have not been charged.Fox said an investigation into the minor’s involvement in the shooting continued. Fox said there is no police body camera footage of the incident.
Both Reynoso and Liakopoulos were relieved of official duties. They turned themselves in at the police station Thursday night, he said, Foxx.
The Civil Police Accountability Service is investigating the shooting and has a September 22 deadline for release of related materials, including video.
“We don’t celebrate police prosecutions,” Fox said, adding that her office supports “hard-working men and women” in the police force.
“But we cannot ignore or support gratuitous acts of violence, even at the hands of people who have sworn to serve and protect their communities,” she said. I got
Both officers were scheduled to appear in bonded court on Friday afternoon, where a more full account of the evidence against them was read by prosecutors.
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https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/9/16/23356665/pilsen-shooting-chicago-police-miguel-medina-official-misconduct 2 Chicago police officers have been charged with felony charges in the Pilsen shootings. “They shot me for no reason.”