WEST ENGLEWOOD — Video released Tuesday by the city's Independent Police Review Authority shows a Chicago Police Department sergeant chasing a 19-year-old man minutes before shooting and killing the unarmed man.
Kajuan Raye, who was from south suburban Dolton, was shot in the back Nov. 23 by Sgt. John Poulos of the Englewood Police District. Poulos was responding to a call of battery near 65th and Ashland around 11 p.m., police said.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson relieved Poulos of his powers three days after the shooting, saying that "based on the little information we know at this point, I have concerns about this incident."
Raye was unarmed at the time he was killed, according to investigators.
None of the three videos released by the police review authority shows the shooting, nor does the video show Raye turning toward the officer. Poulos told investigators Raye twice turned and appeared to point a gun at him before he opened fire, officials said.
Log #1083121 – 3rd Party Video #2 from IPRA Chicago on Vimeo.
An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department released Jan. 13 found the Police Department routinely violated the civil rights of residents by using excessive force caused by poor training and nonexistent supervision.
In the 161-page report, federal officials singled out the shooting by Poulos, the second time in three years he fatally shot an unarmed suspect.
Had the Police Department implemented an early warning system to flag officers who had been the subject of serious complaints, the November 2016 shooting may not have occurred, according to the report.
Such a system "exists in name only" despite significant time and resources spent to create a way to track officers who exhibit "problematic behavior," according to the report.
In 2004, the Police Department's bureau of internal affairs investigated Poulos for violating a rule that bars police employees from owning businesses that sell alcohol, according to the report.
After the investigation began, Poulos went on disability leave, and the probe languished, according to the report. In 2011, the officer returned to the Police Department.
In 2013, Poulos was on his way home from his family’s bar when he saw a “suspected burglar on the rear porch of a neighboring second-floor apartment being rehabbed,” the Tribune reported.
Poulos said he hit 28-year-old Rickey Rozelle on the head with the butt of his revolver after Rozelle, a convicted felon, threatened to kill him and lunged at him while refusing to show his hands, the Tribune reported.
Rozelle was shot twice and killed. A weapon was never found, according to the police review authority, only a watch. Poulos was cleared by the police review authority. A lawsuit was filed against Poulos by Rozelle's family and still is pending.
Despite the complaint — and the shooting — Poulos was promoted to sergeant based on the recommendation of a Police Department official.
Johnson has ordered "an audit of why the 2004 complaint was never investigated to completion," according to the federal report. The audit will be conducted by internal affairs — the same agency that lost track of the complaint after it was filed, the report adds.
Log #1083121 – 3rd Party Video #1 from IPRA Chicago on Vimeo.
Log #1083121 – 3rd Party Video #3 from IPRA Chicago on Vimeo.
