CHICAGO — The release of a 2011 video of a woman as she was shot, slammed and handcuffed by police was done out of legal obligation and not for transparency purposes, according to an activist who fought to see the video.
Chicago Police on Friday released dashcam footage of the arrest of Tiffani Jacobs, who in 2011 was shot by police before being hit with a stun gun and thrown to the ground after she led police on a car chase.
RELATED: CHICAGO POLICE RELEASE 'CONCERNING' VIDEO OF 2011 ARREST
Police said in a statement Friday that the footage — which shows the arrest that took place after she was shot in the chest and side — was being released as part of an effort to "rebuild trust between CPD and the community."
But activist William Calloway said the video came to light after an attorney he hired threatened to sue the city if it did not comply with a records request he made.
Footage released late Friday shows Jacobs stopping her car before she was thrown to the ground and arrested. The incident stemmed from a car chase after she robbed a string of fast food restaurants, according to police and news reports.
Jacobs was shot in the May 2011 incident after police said she accelerated in the direction of an officer with the intent of running him over.
The woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to robbing a Northwest Side McDonald's prior to the police chase, the Sun-Times reported.
The video was released as Supt. Eddie Johnson re-opened an investigation into the officers' use of force on Jacobs, and two officers involved have been placed on desk duty, according to the department.
And though the department is saying the release of the footage was a good-will measure to the black community, Calloway charged that the release "has absolutely nothing to do with transparency."
The footage was requested by Calloway in a Freedom of Information Act request he submitted to the department in February. He said the city's release of the video was necessitated by state laws on public records, although the city did not release other videos requested at the same time.
A police spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday said the decision to release the footage fell to Supt. Johnson and that it reflected both a shift in department policy and Johnson's own initiative.
"It's part of building trust," Emanuel said. "Even the mother of the young woman thanked the superintendent for that action. So it's both the policies adopted and the actions being taken."
Calloway found out about the existence of video in the case in a roundabout way. Last year, the activist said he was at a vigil for a man shot by police when he met the mother of Michael Westley, a 15-year-old fatally shot by police.
Activist William Calloway said police have only released video of Tiffani Jacob's run-in with police because they had to comply with a public records request he made. {DNAinfo/Ted Cox}
The woman was seeking his help in finding out more about her son's case. Calloway turned to the Independent Police Review Authority, which had posted its report on the case online. It was in the report that he learned of the existence of dash cam footage, which was reviewed by IPRA's investigators.
Then, Calloway checked the other reports released by IPRA to determine where other footage might be available.
"I thought, 'Wow, I wonder how many other [cases] had dash cameras involved,'" Calloway said. "I just started [requesting] all of them."
He found 11 cases of police shooting incidents where dash cameras recorded some or all of the incident. Included in those cases was that of Jacobs.
After requesting the videos, Calloway said the Police Department stalled until he brought in a lawyer.
Calloway said he did not hear from police about the video's pending release and found out about it when he saw it on the news.
Of the 11 videos Calloway has requested to see, the one from Jacobs' case was potentially the "least damning," he said. He said he thinks there is a reason the city has not released the other footage.
"My guess is this was an attempt by the mayor's administration to boost credibility of the department by releasing the least damning video of all my requests to give off the impression they're practicing transparency," Calloway said.
As for the other videos that have not been released, Calloway said he and other activists in the city are pressuring the city to make them public.
"We are not stopping," he said.
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