Bucking the recommendation of police oversight officials who called the shooting “unprovoked and unwarranted,” a divided Chicago Police Board voted 5-3 Thursday night to clear an officer of all wrongdoing in fatally shooting a teen in the back of the head during a foot chase nearly six years ago.
The decision comes a little more than a year after the city’s police watchdog agency had taken the rare step of finding the officer at fault and recommending he be fired for using excessive force in shooting Dakota Bright. The 15-year-old was unarmed when he was shot, but officers recovered a .22-caliber revolver in a front yard near where the chase began, authorities said.
While the Independent Police Review Authority had found inconsistencies in Officer Brandon Ternand’s account of the November 2012 shooting, the police board credited his testimony as “credible and persuasive” and praised him as “a highly decorated and respected tactical officer with years of experience.”
The board majority said it also relied heavily on “his reputation for honesty,” based on the character witness testimony of his partner, other officers on the scene that afternoon, his wife and Deputy Chief Kevin Johnson, who called Ternand among the 10 best officers he has ever supervised.
