Mom Says Video Shows Police Killing Her Son Too

Eight days before 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer, the family of another young African-American man killed by police in similar fashion is calling for the release of the police dashcam video.

Ronald Johnson, 25, was fatally shot during a foot chase with Chicago police on Oct. 12, 2014, near East 53rd Street and South Martin Luther King Drive in the city’s Washington Park neighborhood.

Police were responding to a call of shots fired in the area when they spotted Johnson, who his family said had only a minor police record, ABC 7 Chicago reported.

The Chicago police officer who shot Johnson claims the young man pointed a gun at officers. An attorney who has seen the not-yet-publicly-released dashcam video says Johnson was running away and unarmed when he was felled by a police officer’s bullets.

“I am 100-percent certain that Ronald had nothing in his hands when he was running,” the Johnson family’s attorney, Michael Oppenheimer, said during a press conference on Tuesday. “That gun was not in his hand unless the police glued it to his hand.”

Oppenheimer says Johnson was shot at five or six times and was hit twice. The Cook County medical examiner determined that Johnson died of multiple gunshot wounds. His death was ruled a homicide.

After the shooting, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden told news media that Johnson pointed a gun in the direction of the officers responding to the shots-fired call, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell reported.

“Police said they found a gun in his right hand after he fell. We believe the police planted the gun,” Oppenheimer said. “When you are running that fast and get shot, nothing is staying in your hand.”

Johnson’s mother, Dorothy Holmes, filed a federal lawsuit against unknown “John Doe police officers” in the days following her son’s death.

The lawsuit claims the “actions of the Defendant Officers were intentional, willful and wanton and/or committed with reckless indifference and disregard for [Johnson’s] rights.”

The five-count suit alleges excessive force, battery, wrongful death and survival action. It seeks an undisclosed amount in damages, a Sun-Times account of the lawsuit said.

Like the release of the Laquan McDonald video, which triggered the resignation of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on Tuesday, Johnson’s mother is pushing for the public release of the police dashcam video of son’s killing.

“This got to stop. Y’all covering up this murder. It’s been over a year now that my son been murdered and y’all still haven’t did y’all job to convict this cop of murder. Shouldn’t nobody have to go through this pain over their kids,” Holmes told reporters.

According to the Sun-Times’ Mitchell, the city has gotten a “protective order” from a federal judge precluding Holmes’ attorney from releasing the video.

A federal judge is expected to rule on its release on Dec. 10. Holmes claims the video will prove police’s account of what happened to her son to be false.

Family attorney Oppenheimer is also calling for a special prosecutor to handle the police shooting and others.

“There has been no investigation on this case,” Oppenheimer said. He is calling for Cook County Prosecutor Anita Alvarez to resign, news reports said.

Holmes has created a Facebook page, “Justice 4 Ronnie Man” to garner support for her son. She wants the clear her son’s name and for the city to see the video she claims shows police killing another unarmed black man.

Like police officer Jason Van Dyke, who has been charged with first degree murder in the death of Laquan McDonald, the officer who allegedly fired the shots that killed Johnson has been assigned to desk duty.