Chicago panel clears 2 white officers in black man’s death

CHICAGO – A review board has cleared two white Chicago police officers in the fatal shooting of a black man that led to demonstrations.

Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability said in a statement Tuesday that officers Joseph Treacy and Sgt. Thomas Derouin acted “within policy” in the 2016 death of 25-year-old Joshua Beal of Indianapolis.

The shooting followed an argument between an off-duty firefighter and black motorists in a largely white neighbourhood in southwest Chicago.

The board says in its report that video shows Treacy announcing himself as a police officer and Beal holding a raised weapon prior to being shot. Police have said Treacy and Derouin, who were both off duty, opened fire when Beal grabbed a gun from a car and pointed it at the officers.