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Chicago protests continue after police shooting of Harith Augustus

A community activist who has pushed for more police transparency said Monday that he’s asked Chicago police for the body camera footage from all the officers at the scene where one of them fatally shot a black man over the weekend.

William Calloway said a brief video released by police showing the view from one officer’s body camera does not answer crucial questions, starting with the reasons the officers approached 37-year-old Harith Augustus on Saturday afternoon just before he was shot. Calloway also said that a police spokesman’s explanation that the Augustus was “exhibiting characteristics of an armed person” does not justify stopping someone in a city and state where it is legal to carry a concealed weapon.

The video released by police did not include sound so it is impossible to hear what was said by either Augustus or any of the four officers at the scene. It shows one of the officers trying to grab the arm of Augustus, who spins and runs away with a clearly visible holstered gun on his hip.

After release of the shooting video, protests on Sunday evening were peaceful. But the community remains tense and a “demonstration against the police murder of Harith Augustus” organized by a group called the Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression was scheduled for Monday evening at the scene of the shooting. (AP)

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