Jussie Smollett 911 Calls On Night Of Alleged Attack: 'They Put Noose Around His Neck ... That's Really F---ed Up'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two calls to 911 reporting Jussie Smollett had been the victim of a racially motivated attack in January were released on Wednesday.
The caller said he worked for Smollett and wanted to report the incident on the actor's behalf. The caller added that Smollett initially was reluctant to make a report, but that he would convince Smollett to speak with police about the incident.
"I just need the police to come by, I work for an artist, I don't really want to say his name," the unidentified caller told a 911 dispatcher. "He states he went to Subway ... and two guys, somebody jumped him or something like that. I just want to report it and make sure he's alright."
"I just think he's startled ... They put a noose around his neck," the caller told the dispatcher. "They didn't do anything with it, but it's around his neck. That's really f--ked up. Sorry, for saying it like that."
The caller's name, was redacted from the recording.
Listen to the calls below:
Call one, during which the caller makes the initial report:
Call two, during which the caller and police appear to be confused about the exact response location:
In the second recording, there appears to be concern about a delay in the police response.
"I am waiting on the police," he says. "The person I work for, he was jumped on the street, and I just want to report it. I thought they [the police] would be here by now."
On January 29, Chicago police opened a hate crime investigation after Smollett, 36, said he was attacked near his Chicago apartment. According to police, Smollett said two men approached him around 2 a.m., shouted "racial and homophobic slurs," poured an "unknown chemical substance" on him and wrapped a noose around his neck.
Police later said that Smollett staged the attack and charged him with filing a false police report. Those charges were later dropped by Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx.
On Feb. 4, Chicago police released the initial incident report. It said a friend of Smollett, who reported the incident to police, says Smollett "did not want to report offense" but "believed it to be in the best interest to."
The report also notes that Smollett still had a rope around his neck when police arrived to interview him. In the report, Smollett says the attackers were wearing black and were the "primary aggressor." He says they were wearing a black mask, but he recalls no other "distinguishing features."
On Feb. 16, a source close to the investigation told CBS News that two brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo, told detectives Smollett paid them to participate in the attack. They say the rope that was found around Smollett's neck was purchased at the Crafty Beaver Hardware Store in the Ravenswood neighborhood. A raid of their home turned up ropes, masks and bleach.
Chicago police say their questioning of the brothers had "shifted the trajectory of the investigation," and they requested another interview with Smollett. The actor's attorneys say he was "angered and devastated" by reports that he knew the alleged attackers, and that one of the men was Smollett's personal trainer. Ola Osundairo had played a prisoner in a season of "Empire."
On Feb. 20, the state's attorney filed a felony disorderly conduct charge against Smollett for allegedly filing a false report. This was announced soon after Chicago police confirmed Smollett was a suspect in a criminal investigation.
Those charges were dropped in March.