NOTE: NBC 5 Investigates is combing through the hours of footage. Check back for more as we bring you the latest on this release.
Chicago police on Monday released several records and hours of video files related to the investigation into Jussie Smollett.
The videos are a combination of footage from police body cameras, security cameras, and city traffic and crime cameras, authorities said.
CPD's Freedom of Information Act office began uploading "hand written case notes, supplemental investigative records and video files" related to the case Monday morning, according to spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The process took several hours and was completed just before 5 p.m.
The release of additional files comes just days after a judge appointed a special prosecutor to examine the handling of the case surrounding the "Empire" actor.
Judge Michael Toomin ruled Friday in favor of a special prosecutor being appointed in the case after Sheila O'Brien, a former appellate judge, called for an investigation into why the Cook County State's Attorney's office dropped the charges against Smollett.
Smollett reported in January that he was the victim of an attack in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood, claiming to have been beaten by two men who shouted racist and homophobic slurs, hit him, put a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him, court documents show.
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Chicago police initially investigated the incident as a hate crime, but alleged the following month that he orchestrated the attack himself because he was "dissatisfied with his salary."
He was initially charged with one felony count of disorderly conduct in filing a false police report, before a Cook County grand jury then indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts.
Smollett pleaded not guilty before all charges against him were dropped on March 28 in exchange for his forfeiture of his $10,000 bond and his performance of community service.
The judge ruled Friday that a special prosecutor will "conduct an independent investigation of the actions of any person or office involved in all aspects of the case," noting that "if reasonable grounds exist to further prosecutor Smollett in the interest of justice the special prosecutor may take such action."
