Mother of Paul O’Neal ‘Broke Down’ While Watching Police Video: Activist

CHICAGO, IL — The family of 18-year-old Paul O’Neal “broke down” while watching police dashcam footage of the shooting death of their relative.

“There were six clips, the family saw three of the six clips, and they were the three that were most graphic,” activist Ja’Mal Green told reporters Friday morning before footage was released by the city’s Independent Police Review Authority to the public.

“The mother broke down. Her daughter broke down. She couldn’t believe they had done this to them and that she would be put in this situation,” said Green.

“They were very shocked. The family could not sit in there and watch the video. It was hard for me to watch as well. We need to hold these officers accountable.”

O’Neal was shot and killed by police in the city’s South Shore neighborhood on July 28 during a police investigation into a stolen car. Dashcam videos show multiple officers firing guns toward the windshield of the Jaguar O’Neal was driving and at the back of the vehicle as the car was speeding away.

Small memorials to O'Neal sprung up at the scene Friday, with stuffed animals, signs and flowers.

Watch The Shooting Here: Officers Celebrate After Shooting Teen Car Thief

Green expressed anger at the police, not only for the shooting but for their reaction after O’Neal was detained.

“They all shook hands and asked, ‘Did you get him?’ and told each other ‘good job,’” he said. “We saw no remorse of the officers. They probably thought it was a justified shooting.”

One officer complained about arm pain, another that he would be put on “goddamn desk duty” for 30 days, and several references to O’Neal firing a weapon were made.

Michael Oppenheimer, the O’Neal family attorney, called the video “one of the most horrific things I have seen.” The O’Neal family has initiated a lawsuit against the police officers involved. Three have been stripped of their police powers.

“It looked like cold blood murder,” Oppenheimer said.

Oppenheimer is a former prosecutor and he called for a special prosecutor to be appointed for this case.

Both Green and Oppenheimer hold that O’Neal was not armed during the situation despite repeated police claims on video that he was shooting at them.

“The thought that he was shooting at them is ridiculous since he was running from them when he was shot,” Green said.

The activist and lawyer commended Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson for the uncharacteristic transparency shown by the department in releasing the video so quickly in this case. But Green suggested a penalty for officers whose body cameras are malfunctioning.

“How can we hold them accountable if their cameras aren’t working?” he said, referring to one line in the video in which an officer said “make sure this (body camera) is off.”

“There’s some transparency in allowing the family to see the video and some transparency in having body cameras, but we are still seeing the same problem: police killing young, unarmed black people,” Oppenheimer said.

O'Neal's sister addressed reporters later on Friday. She said she and her mother could only watch 15 minutes of the videos.

"I'm very hurt. Words can't describe how I feel at this moment, how I felt when it happened," Briana Adams, 22, said at a press conference Friday.

She said her family wanted O'Neal to pick up a trade after high school graduation and become an electrician.

"I want everybody to know that Paul had goals," she said, pausing and putting her head in her hand emotion took hold.

Asked why she chose to watch the video at all by a reporter, Adams replied: “I wanted to know the truth myself."