Bodycam video shows Chicago Police shooting that killed man whose girlfriend called for help
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Newly-released body camera video shows the moment a man was shot and killed by Chicago Police after his girlfriend called 911 for help from her Little Village neighborhood apartment.
The CPD said the man, Timothy Glaze, lunged at officers with a knife. His family has been calling for the bodycam video for more than a month — and they want to know why police shot him 20 times.
The video shows Glaze holding a knife in his right hand as he walks towards the officers who responded that morning. The two 911 calls from Glaze's girlfriend, Charlotta Pritchett, painted a chaotic picture inside the Albany Terrace Apartments, a Chicago Housing Authority seniors' high-rise at 3030 W. 21st Pl., early on the morning of Friday, Jan. 3.
Pritchett is heard telling a dispatcher that Glaze would not leave her alone. She tells the dispatcher that she has a screwdriver in her hand, while Glaze has her in a corner with a knife in his hand.
The CPD arrived within minutes — aware that Glaze was armed.
The bodycam video shows police arriving at the front desk at Albany Terrace Apartments, and telling a man at the desk that they are looking for someone whose boyfriend is attacking her.
Less than two minutes after arriving on the scene and going up to the sixth floor, officers encountered Glaze. At least 20 shots were fired by two officers.
One officer's bodycam shows a knife in Glaze's right hand at the time.
Glaze is handcuffed before officers begin to render aid. One of the officers who pulled the trigger is heard saying, "He came at us with a knife."
Three days after the shooting, Glaze's girlfriend said she regretted calling 911 in the first place.
"Don't say the word 'knife' when you call 911," Pritchett said. "I don't want to call 911 ever again in my life, because it took his life."
Glaze's family disagrees that the knife was justification for the shooting. releasing a statement Tuesday saying:
"We are heartbroken, devastated, and outraged by the tragic and unnecessary loss of our beloved Timothy Glaze. Timothy was a son, a brother, a friend, and a human being who deserved compassion and care, especially in his moment of mental distress. Instead, he was met with violence and brutality that took his life in the most horrific way imaginable.
"Timothy was in crisis when 911 was called, seeking help. We trusted that the police would respond with empathy, de-escalation, and the proper training to handle someone in mental duress. Instead, Timothy was shot 20 times. Twenty times. This is not protection. This is not service. This is a failure of the system that is supposed to keep us safe. We are left with unbearable pain and so many questions. Where was the empathy? Where was the training to handle mental health crises? Why was lethal force the immediate response to someone who needed help, not bullets? Timothy was not a threat. He was a person in need of care, and he was failed by those who were supposed to protect him.
"We demand answers. We demand accountability. We demand justice for Timothy. No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain. No person in crisis should ever be met with such violence. Timothy's life mattered, and we will not rest until there is meaningful change to ensure that no one else suffers as he did. We ask for privacy during this incredibly difficult time as we grieve the loss of our loved one. But we also ask for the public's support in seeking justice and systemic reform. Timothy's death cannot be in vain."
The family has repeatedly questioned why this wasn't handled as a mental health call. There is a mental health specific unit in Chicago known as the Crisis Assistance Response & Engagement Program, but its director told me it typically does not respond to calls involving weapons.
