#policjant

Newly released bodycam video shows a University of Chicago police officer firing across a street at a gunman while repeatedly yelling at him to get on the ground and not move.

The gunman was shot and seriously wounded as he continued to approach the officer, according to the university.

The officer had stopped to investigate reports of a man walking south with a handgun drawn on Woodlawn Avenue at 53rd Street shortly before noon Tuesday.

The gunman started firing as the officer stepped out of his car, according to a statement from the university.

But bodycam video released by the school begins with the officer on the front steps of a home, shouting for a man across the street to “get on the ground, get on the ground.”

Seconds later, the officer begins shooting at the man, firing at least five times. The officer then runs closer to the man, using an SUV for cover while continuing to yell “get on the ground” and firing more shots.

About 45 seconds into the 54-second video, the man can be seen lying on the ground. The officer then radios, “Send an ambulance, he’s hit at least two times, officer-involved shooting.”

The man, in his 20s, was taken in critical condition to the university’s medical center. His name has not been released, though the school’s statement said he is not affiliated with the university.

Shortly after the shooting, police blocked off 53rd Street from Kimbark to an alley west of Woodlawn. Six evidence markers could be seen on the ground.

An employee who answered the phone at Kimbark Liquor and Wine said people ran in the store saying they saw “a guy waving a gun” before shooting erupted. The employee, who asked not to be named, didn’t see the shooting himself.

The Chicago Police Department and university are both investigating the shooting. The officer is being placed on mandatory administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigations, the school said.

In April 2018, University of Chicago police shot a student about a block from Tuesday’s incident after the man allegedly charged at an officer holding a pipe during a possible mental health crisis.

The student, Charles Soji Thomas, was later charged with aggravated assault of a police officer and criminal damage to property for allegedly smashing windows of cars shortly before the shooting. The charges were later dropped.

Students with CareNotCops, a group formed in response to the Thomas case, said it was concerned about the similarities with Tuesday’s shooting.

“From what we know right now, it seems like he was undergoing a mental health crisis, which just further connects it to Soji,” Warren Wagner, an organizer with CareNotCops, told the Sun-Times.

Since the group’s formation, CareNotCops has pushed the university to divest its police force and invest in mental health resources and facilities on campus.

The fatal shooting of graduate student Shaoxiong “Dennis” Zheng this past fall led some members of the university community to demand a larger police presence on campus, but Hala Hersi, another organizer with CareNotCops, said such actions will do nothing to address the root causes of violence.

“Police only ever react to gun violence — there are never any preventative measures,” Hersi said. “If we want to begin actually healing as a community...we must start by ending violent practices of increased policing and surveillance.”

“What we actually need is investment in our communities,” Sahar Punjwani, another organizer with CareNotCops, told the Sun-Times. “We need things like access to mental health resources or the PeaceBook that GoodKids MadCity advocates for, because policing doesn’t solve the issue.”

NYPD officers raced to rescue an injured Bronx woman who was trapped under a couch when the house next door exploded in flames and partially collapsed Tuesday morning, body camera video released by the department showed.

The officer wearing the camera ran towards the Fox Street inferno before rushing into the home adjacent to the raging structure fire, which killed a 77-year-old woman, and might have been sparked by a gas leak, officials said.

“Somebody’s in there,” a woman on the street could be heard frantically alerting the cops, according to the footage of the 11 a.m. Longwood scene.

“Under the couch! Under the couch! Right there, she’s under the couch!” a bystander yelled as he directed police into a living room on the first floor of the three story building that had been dilapidated by the blast.

“10-6 we’re inside,” an officer radioed to the dispatcher as three cops turned over the large piece of furniture that had pinned the woman in the corner of the room.

As she moaned in agony, the officers lifted up the woman and brought her outside to safety.

“One, two, let’s go. Get her over the couch!,” an officer instructed.

The NYPD blurred the face of the injured woman in the bodycam footage, which lasted 77 seconds. She is 68 years old, and was in serious condition, according to officials.

An 82-year-old sister of the unidentified woman that was killed in the blast was in critical condition, the NYPD said. The two women were in the home when it exploded and were found laying on the ground outside by first responders. Five cops were treated for smoke inhalation and were in stable condition, according to authorities.

“When @NYPD41pct officers arrived at the massive explosion at a Bronx home, they saw flames spreading to the adjoining home rocked by the explosion,” a Tuesday evening tweet by NYPD News read. “Knowing there was a person inside, they ran in. They found a woman trapped in the debris. Our prayers are with those affected.”

In a somber news conference at the scene, Mayor Eric Adams praised the NYPD rescue effort.

“We saved lives today. Our actions saved lives,” Adams said. “When you see the [cops’] body-cam video, you’re going to see the quick response of the officers going into the building next door from the explosion, not realizing if there would be an additional explosion, but they went inside and carried out a woman who was trapped inside.

“There’s so much we need to find out about this incident. It’s an ongoing investigation to determine what happened,” he said.

* (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) *
San Diego, California — The San Diego Police Department released video footage of the fatal shooting by three officers of a robbery suspect who allegedly pulled a knife and a pellet gun on them in Logan Heights. The video includes portions of surveillance footage captured about 7:30 a.m. Monday from inside Mullens Market and Liquor in the 3000 block of Imperial Avenue. In it, 21-year-old Isaac Andrade approaches a store clerk at the market’s counter and shows them a large knife he’s holding in his left hand as part of a robbery attempt. Patrol officers investigating the holdup spotted the suspect walking in an alley just south of the scene of the crime, Brown said. As they approached, Andrade alleged reached into his jacket and produced a knife in one hand and what appeared to be a firearm in the other. In response, SDPD Officers Michael Martinez, Michael Muniz and Angel Vidrios shot the suspect. Police and firefighters tried in vain to revive Andrade before paramedics pronounced him dead. The gun that Andrade allegedly pulled turned out to be an airsoft- style pellet pistol, the lieutenant said.

Police were called to the Walmart on Brookpark Road at about 2 p.m. for a reported theft Tuesday.

Officers found a homemade zip gun on Alexander Michalewicz, 44, and took him out of the store to a patrol car, according to the police department. Meanwhile, the second suspect, 35-year-old Britney Bullington, stayed in the loss prevention office with two store employees and an officer.

Police said Bullington told them she was pregnant so they handcuffed her in front of her body. According to police, she lunged at the officer’s gun and grabbed it with both hands. The store surveillance video shows the two fight over the weapon on the floor while the Walmart workers run from the office.

Bullington continued to fight and gouged the officer in the face multiple times, according to the police department. In the video, a second officer is seen forcing the office door open and subduing the woman.

A Phoenix police motorcycle officer was hospitalized after being injured in a hit-and-run collision early Monday, authorities said.

Police said the crash happened at about 12:30 a.m. when an officer was traveling east on Bethany Home Road and was hit by a dark-colored minivan turning left at 26th Avenue.

The officer received a serious leg injury and required immediate surgery, the Phoenix Police Department said in a press release.