Mayor Emanuel Gives Deposition In CPD Shooting Case
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in the hot seat.
A sitting mayor giving a court deposition.
It's a rare scene but it's happening now at the Daley Center.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker has the story.
The mayor has been on the hot seat for nearly three hours.
He's forced to explain what he knew about a controversial police shooting.
The mayor came up on a special elevator reserved for judges.
Emanuel is here to face intense questioning by the attorneys for the families of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones.
Both were shot by officer Robert Rialmo in December of 2015.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, ruled the shooting unjustified.
It said it it found inconsistencies in Rialmo's account that LeGreir was trying to attack him with a bat.
Earlier this week Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson issued this letter disagreeing with COPA, writing "when the actions of an assailant will likely cause death or serious physical injury, then the use of firearms and other deadly force options by officers is appropriate."
"The superintendent's letter is a travesty," says Bill Foutris, the attorney for the Legrier family.
Before the deposition, said he plans to ask the mayor about COPA's finding versus the superintendent's letter.
"We'll ask him which of the two he agrees with. I'm going to ask him about the code of silence," says Foutris. "When he got in front of the city council and said the code of silence exists and then he files a stipulation in this case under oath that he doesn't know anything about it. Did he lie to the people in the city council or is he lying in this case."
A judge has ruled that the deposition will be sealed.