Video Shows a CPD Cop Hit a Black Woman w/SUV Cruiser, Causing Her Head to Strike the Pavement. Cops Ignored Her and Left Her Pinned Under a Wheel for 9 Min while Trying to Conceal It From the Public

HIT AND STAY AND IGNORE AND CONCEAL From [HERE] and [HERE] A community activist on Tuesday released a dramatic video the city had fought to keep private that shows a Chicago police SUV striking and critically injuring a Black woman in the South Shore neighborhood in 2019.

The body camera video shows a police SUV pull forward from a parked position into Martina Standley after she touched a searchlight affixed to the vehicle.

The officer who was behind the wheel exits the vehicle and walks over to Standley’s motionless body and says, “Girl, ain’t nobody hit you like that.” [cop-artists perform for the camera

A pool of blood forms under Standley’s head as she regains some consciousness.

“She came banging on the window like ‘Boom boom boom.’ I thought I was in reverse. I tried to turn the wheel. It wasn’t nothing like no running from nobody or nothing like that,” the officer tells another officer. The video does not show her banging on a window. The video shows nothing was in front of his vehicle, which was parked or standing in the street, so it makes no sense that he would be trying to go in reverse anyway, which he didn’t do.

The police vehicle remains on Standley’s leg for over 4 minutes before the officer asks a sergeant if he should move the vehicle. She was pinned under the vehicle for at least 9 minutes.

During the nine minutes a group of at least 10 cops who had responded to the scene, milled around and paced back and forth as they attempted to conceal the incident from the public. The indifferent cops ignored her as she laid motionless in the street with blood steaming from her head.

The encounter happened about 6 p.m. Nov. 13, 2019, in the 2000 block of East 71st Street.According to the lawsuit, Martina Standley, 32, had “attempted to communicate” with officers inside a police SUV when the officer behind the wheel accelerated from a parked position and turned into her, causing Standley’s head to strike the ground.

“One witness described the noise of the skull slamming into the ground as being as loud as a gunshot,” according to family attorney Andrew M. Stroth. After the impact, Standley remained motionless, bleeding from the head, with her leg pinned under the SUV, according to the suit.

The unnamed officer at wheel “committed willful and wanton conduct exhibiting an actual or deliberate intent to harm, or through a course of action which showed an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of another,” according to the suit. The officer also violated a police order that provides guidelines for how officers are to respond to people who need mental health treatment, the suit states.

Standley is bipolar, Stroth said. “These CPD officers used the power of the badge, a blatant disregard to our community and the power and force of a 4,700 pound sport utility vehicle to strike and injure unarmed, 5-foot-4 Martina Standley,” Stroth said.

Her leg was crushed and she suffered traumatic brain injury.

Community activist William Calloway filed a Freedom of Information request for the video days after the incident. Police denied the request, citing an ongoing investigation. Calloway then filed a lawsuit seeking its release and won.

“I want justice and transparency,” Calloway said Tuesday, noting the city has a history of not releasing videos that shine an unfavorable light on the police.

Release of the video comes just weeks after the release of another video showing police handcuffing a naked Anjanette Young during a mistaken raid on the social worker’s home.

After the 2019 incident, a police spokesperson said it was unclear what Standley and the officers were talking about in the moments before she was struck, but Standley was not considered a suspect in a criminal matter. Standley can’t remember the exchange.

Stroth said regardless of what was said, Standley was unarmed and did nothing to provoke such a response.

“I think the cop realized that he made a significant mistake and that he can be held responsible,” Stroth said Tuesday.

In a lawsuit filed days after the incident, Stroth claimed the officer at the wheel “committed willful and wanton conduct exhibiting an actual or deliberate intent to harm, or through a course of action which showed an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of another.”

Stroth said the city gave him a copy of the video 10 months after the incident as part of the discovery process for the pending lawsuit. There was no protective order placed by the court on the video, Stroth said, meaning he could have released it publicly.

Asked why he didn’t release the video, Stroth said he was focused on litigation. [wha?]

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is still investigating the incident “to determine if officers were engaged in misconduct and/or other administrative violations including inattentive to duties,” spokesman Ephraim M. Eaddy said.

Eaddy said COPA determined the video wasn’t covered by the agency’s 60-day release policy because the officers weren’t involved in a police action or a use of force.

The officers involved remain on full-duty status while the investigation continues, a police spokesperson said Tuesday.