Daywatch: CPD officers reporting use of force more often

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

Good morning, Chicago.
The woman stood on the sidewalk outside her home and waited for the first officers to show up. Blood streamed down her face and shoulders.
She had called 911 after her significant other stabbed her.
When officers arrived at the home in the Back of the Yards in July 2022, she pointed to the open doorway. Standing about 10 feet from the threshold, a man kept his grip on a knife in his right hand.
'Shoot me,' the man barked at the officers, as he took small, deliberate steps forward.
'Please drop the knife,' an officer, also on the sidewalk, yelled back. 'I'm begging you. Drop the knife.'
As the man's darkened silhouette continued forward, two red dots appeared: one on his chest, another on his thigh.
'Shoot me!' he demanded.
A moment later, a Taser was fired. A direct hit, splitting the man's beltline. He fell backward, collapsing on the floor. An officer put down his Taser and put the man in handcuffs. One of the electrodes remained lodged in his shirt.
It was the type of deadly force encounter that's routine for Chicago Police Department patrol officers in the city's rougher neighborhoods. While common — CPD officers are called to thousands of domestic disturbances every year — the incident and others like it serve as valuable training material for the city's Police Department in its post-Laquan McDonald era of reform.
A new report from CPD shows a sizable year-over-year increase in reports of both use-of-force and firearm-pointing incidents by Chicago cops. The upticks come as the department continues its efforts to gather and analyze internal data in its march toward compliance with the city's federal consent decree.
Read the full story from the Tribune's Sam Charles.
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