Posted on April 20, 2021

Chicago Police Union Head Calls Adam Toledo Shooting ‘Justified’

Jordan Williams, The Hill, April 16, 2021

The head of the Chicago Police Union on Thursday said that the shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo was “justified” and called the officer’s actions “heroic.”

The remarks from Chicago Police Union President John Catanzara came hours after Chicago’s Office of Civilian Police Accountability released bodycam footage of the March 29 incident.

The footage raised questions as to whether Toledo actually had a gun in his hand before he was shot, as police have claimed. {snip}

In an appearance on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time,” Catanzara said that the officer’s actions were “100 percent justified.”

“I started my dissertation by saying it is 100 percent justified. That officer’s actions were actually heroic,” he said. “There’s a very good reason he only shot once. Like I said, he could have been shot multiple times but the officer assessed in a split second.

{snip}

Catanzara said the officer had less than one second to determine whether Toledo had the gun and shoot.

“Time lapse photos show that the officer had 8/10ths of a second to determine if that weapon was still in his hands or not,” Catanzara said. “There’s no way a rational person can say they can process that and their muscle reaction would be less than one second.”

{snip}