Following a recommendation from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the Chicago Police Board has voted for a future hearing for officer Eric Stillman, who fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo following a foot chase in Little Village on March 29, 2021.
The decision comes six months after COPA announced the investigation into the fatal shooting last year had concluded. COPA had sent their recommendations to CPD Superintendent David Brown upon the investigation's conclusion, but did not disclose their findings to the public.
Currently, decisions are made by one randomly selected board member on disciplinary action for officers.
The following statement was released by COPA:
“As I’ve said before, this is not about winning or losing, but about facts, evidence and testimony being presented before the full Police Board before a final decision is determined,” said COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten. “Impacted parties and the residents of the city of Chicago deserve to have all the facts and evidence presented in a full, public hearing and we believe this case is deserving of a full evidentiary hearing before the entire Police Board and a review of the rules governing this process is warranted.”
“Under the current one-member review process, a single member of the Police Board can determine consequential cases without any identifiable legal standard and a potentially limited review of the evidence. As a result, cases involving the loss of life or other issues important to the community can be decided based on that single member's perception without the benefit of a full evidentiary hearing. My hope is we all understand the importance of having these issues presented fully in a neutral environment that provides due process for officers, procedural justice for impacted families, and transparency for the public. This is an opportunity for the City of Chicago to review this process."
Previously, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office announced in March 2022 that Stillman would not face criminal charges in connection to the shooting.
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The announcement from Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx came alongside a decision to not charge officer Evan Solano in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez in Portage Park, also in March 2021.
Stillman's fatal encounter with Adam Toledo began shortly after a ShotSpotter alert sounded just after 2:35 a.m. on the morning of March 29, 2021 in the 2300 block of South Sawyer in Little Village.
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Police observed two males in an alley who fled upon seeing the responding officers. During that chase, one of the two responding officers, Eric Stillman, opened fire, fatally striking Adam in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene and a weapon was recovered.
At the time, police did not release Adam's identity and placed the involved officers on 30 days of administrative duty during the COPA investigation, as is standard department policy.
The other person at the scene with Adam was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, police said at the time.
Adam Toledo was identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office on April 1, when they ruled his death a homicide and listed his cause of death as a gunshot wound to the chest.
Initially, COPA said that bodycam footage of the shooting would not be released, citing Adam's age as the agency could not publicly release video involving a juvenile without a court order.
However, COPA reversed course the following day, concluding that the Juvenile Court Act did not bar publication of the bodycam footage captured during the shooting, and committed to releasing the footage within 60 days of the incident, per city policy.
Police eventually released new information to their narrative on April 5, with CPD Supt. David Brown saying the man who was with Adam gave officers false information regarding his identity, leading to a considerable delay in identifying Adam.
Police added that Adam's mother had filed a missing persons report with police on March 26, though she followed up with police the following day to inform them that Adam had returned home, removing him from the system that tracks missing persons.
Elizabeth Toledo, Adam's mother, told police he left the home again in the overnight hours of March 27-28, and she had not seen him since then. Toledo met detectives at the morgue and identified her son two days after his killing on March 31.
Adam's family privately viewed the bodycam footage of the shooting for the first time on April 13, two days before the eventual public release of the video.
A complete timeline of the fatal shooting of Adam Toledo based on the bodycam footage released by COPA can be found here.
The footage shows an officer chasing Adam in an alley while shouting at him to stop. Adam appears to pause near a fence bordering a parking lot at the end of the alley and turn toward the officer with his hands up.
The officer can be heard yelling, "Hey show me your f***ing hands, drop it, drop it," firing one shot as Adam turns and puts his hands up. As Adam turns and raises his hands, he's illuminated by a flashing light and the body camera footage appears to show that both of the boy's hands are empty.
On the same day, documents released by COPA identified the officer who fired the fatal shot as then 34-year-old Eric Stillman, who started as a Chicago police officer in August 2015 in the 10th District.
An attorney for Stillman said in a statement that the officer "was faced with a life threatening and deadly force situation" in which he was "left with no other option." Read more here.
