On Monday the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) in Chicago released audio recordings of the three 911 calls Quintonio LeGrier made to the authorities on the morning he was shot six times by a police officer whose gunfire also accidentally killed his neighbor. LeGrier told the 911 dispatcher that his life was threatened, but was hung up on when he would not specify how.
The 911 phone calls open new questions into the killing of the 19-year-old who came to the door of his apartment with a baseball bat the day after Christmas. The police arrived at the home in response to a call by LeGrier’s father Antonio LeGrier after he called for help with his son.
“You have a situation here — Quintonio is looking for help,” Basileios J. Foutris, the lawyer, said. “He’s calling for police assistance. The first time he does that, he’s hung up on. The next two times, he’s met with rude, offensive, crude, inappropriate dispatchers who basically treat him like trash.”
The 911 dispatcher who hung up on LeGrier has been disciplined, reports say, because failing to respond to a caller who says their life is at risk is a violation of policy. The office of Mayor Emanuel states that they had not heard of these calls until Monday.
The death of Quintonio LeGrier was angrily received by a city reeling from the scandal of Laquan McDonald’s shooting video. Hundreds protested on the street that police are killing rather than helping citizens. Hundreds of protesters urged officials in Chicago to resign, eventually leading to the forced resignation of the Chicago Police Department Superintendent.
