“I give up. I’m shot.’” Cedrick Chatman’s Final Words Revealed
In 2013, 461 people were shot and killed by police in the United States. One victim’s final words were released with more information in Chicago on Friday, January 15.
“I give up. I’m shot.” Cedrick Chatman uttered his last words to Officer Lou Toth, after a Chicago Officer Kevin Fry shot him after running a traffic stop in the South Side. The bullet went through Chatman’s right side, piercing his heart and being wedged in his spine. He died on his way to the hospital. Chatman was only 17 years old.
His last words was released in a file including hundreds of pages of investigative records that looked at how he was involved in a violent robbery and carjacking that had occurred a mile away from his shooting. Along with Chatman’s words, the documents included detective reports from the scene, autopsy results, inventory logs, lineups, and transcripts of witness interviews.
Fry’s initial interview with detectives was included in the report.
“Officer Fry said he believed that the object was a handgun and he was in fear of his partner’s life, as Toth was in close proximity to the offender.”
That object was a black iPhone box.
During the deposition in July 2014 as part of the lawsuit, the transcript caught Fry’s perception of the incident.
“As Mr. Chatman approaches the corner, he makes a slight turn, a subtle turn to the right with his upper body. I see in his right hand … a small black object which I believed to be a handgun.”
Chatman’s mother filed a lawsuit, and her lawyers said the videos show that Chatman was trying to get away from the police when Fry opened fire without reason. The release of these documents comes a day after the camera footage from the January 2013 was released in an effort to change policies surrounding how evidence from police shootings are kept from the public.
That change came quickly after the haunting video of Laquan McDonald’s shooting by Chicago officer Jason Van Dyke, which lead to the dismissal of police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and the calls for resignations of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez.
Unlike McDonald’s video that shows him being shot 16 times, the videos of Chatman are dark and unclear showing far away looks at the shooting. A police surveillance camera and cameras outside a convenience store and by South Shore High School captured the videos.
(Photo Credit: Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images)