Chicago officer indicted three years after firing on group of black teens

On Dec. 22, 2013, Chicago police officer Marco Proano stepped out of his police vehicle, pulled out a gun and opened fire on a group of black teenagers in a car backing away from him.

On Friday, he was indicted for depriving two of those teenagers of their civil rights through his use of what the Department of Justice has called "unreasonable force."

In dash-cam video from the shooting obtained by The Chicago Reporter, Proano points his gun at a car and starts shooting within seconds.

The car crashes to a stop soon after, and a horde of officers quickly swarms the area, with several drawing their weapons.

The indictment says only that Proano's actions "resulted in bodily injury" to two people, though a civil lawsuit stemming from the shooting says that two teenagers were shot that night.

Neither of the teens died, though as The Washington Post reported then-15-year-old David Hemmans continues to have ankle problems stemming from that night. Hemmans was one of the kids shot. Several of the children were thrown to the ground after officers confronted them following the shooting.

The teens' families sued the police as well as the city of Chicago and settled for $360,000.

Pat Camdem, the spokesperson at the time for the Fraternal Order of Police, said Proano and other officers were pursuing the car because it was believed to be stolen.

Proano is on desk duty but still being paid. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has until later in 2016 to determine whether Proano is allowed to keep his job.

“When a police officer uses unreasonable force, it has a harmful effect on not only the victims, but also the public, who lose faith and confidence in law enforcement,” Zachary Fardon, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a statement. “Our office will continue to independently and vigorously pursue civil rights prosecutions to hold officers accountable and strengthen trust in the police.”

Despite that statement, the DOJ rarely pursues allegations of civil rights violations committed by police officers.

Since 1995, the DOJ has decided against pursuing 96 percent of such alleged cases, even though it decides against pursuing only 23 percent of complaints alleging other crimes, according to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. That means that out of a total of 13,233 potential civil rights violations committed by officers since 1995, the DOJ decided against investigating 12,703.

The Chicago Police Department, which has a history of civil rights abuse that goes back decades, has arguably gotten more scrutiny over the past 10 months than any other police department in the country.

On Nov. 24, 2015, the city of Chicago released video of officer Jason Van Dyke shooting a black teenager named Laquan McDonald 16 times in an incident that took place on Oct. 20, 2014.

Editor's note: The following video is graphic and, roughly five minutes in, shows a police officer killing a teenager. Please view with caution.

The video sparked protests and calls for immediate change within the department.

Garry McCarthy lost his job as Chicago Police Superintendent and then-State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who often oversaw civil rights cases and allegations against Chicago police officers, lost her reelection campaign in April.

That same month, a Chicago police accountability task force published a report that begins by saying "a painful but necessary reckoning is upon us."

The report blasted the department for many failures, including the failure to make accountability a "core value."

Chicago police spokesperson Frank Giancamilli described the charges against Proano as "serious" and, according to The Washington Post, said the department "will have zero tolerance for proven misconduct."