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Chicago Cop Who Shot At Car 16 Times Found Guilty Of Excessive Force
Chicago Cop Who Shot At Car 16 Times Found Guilty Of Excessive Force
Source: Chicago Reader

Chicago Cop Who Fired 16 Shots At Car Full Of Black Teens Sentenced To Federal Prison

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Chicago Reader

A former Chicago police officer has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for using unreasonable force when he fired into a car full of teenagers. This marks the first Chicago cop in decades, if not ever, to be sentenced to federal prison for an on-duty shooting.

READ: Chicago Cop Who Shot At Car 16 Times Found Guilty Of Excessive Force

Marco Proano's sentencing comes after he was convicted in August of using unreasonable force and causing bodily injury when he fired 16 shots into a stolen vehicle that was stopped for speeding. Ultimately, one of the teens was wounded in the shoulder and received graze wounds to his face and cheek; and another was struck on his left hip and right heel. A third teen was also injured in relation to the incident but not by Proano.

U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman, who handed down Proano's sentence, said that the former police officer's actions were "exceptionally unjustified," according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.

"Mr. Proano was not maintaining the 'thin blue line' that separates us from anarchy, and chaos and violence," Feinerman said. "He was bringing the chaos and violence. He was the source of it."

Proano tried to justify the shooting by claiming he was trying to protect one of the teens who was hanging out of the car's passenger window as it backed away. However, evidence showed that one of the bullets Proano fired was close to striking the teen he was supposedly defending.

Proano will have to report to prison by January 23, 2018.

A similar incident took place in Balch Springs, Texas, when police officer Roy Oliver shot into a car full of teens and ended up killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Edwards, who was a freshman in High School, was leaving a party with friends when he was shot through the passenger side window of the vehicle by Oliver. The Dallas County Medical Examiner's office has ruled Edwards' death as a homicide.

Source: chicagotribune.com