Nearly five years after Chicago police officer Ella French was killed, oversight officials on Wednesday released video footage of the on-duty shooting — closing the book on a dark chapter in the city’s history.
Body camera footage shows the brief moments before a routine traffic stop turned deadly on Aug. 7, 2021. French was shot and killed and her partner, officer Carlos Yanez Jr., was seriously wounded.
Gunman Emonte Morgan and his brother, Eric, were arrested shortly after the attack. Court orders prohibited the release of any materials related to the shooting while their criminal cases played out.
Eric Morgan pleaded guilty to gun charges in 2023 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. It took a jury just hours to find his older brother guilty of murder and attempted murder a year later. Emonte Morgan was sentenced to life in prison.
With those court orders no longer in effect, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability published the video footage online Wednesday afternoon.
“COPA is releasing this video in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and in keeping with our commitment to transparency and public accountability,” COPA Chief Administrator LaKenya White wrote in a statement.
“As we do so, it is important to remember that this video captures a profoundly tragic event. Our thoughts remain with Officer Ella French and Officer Carlos Yanez Jr., their loved ones, colleagues, and all those whose lives were forever changed by this incident.”
Jurors watched the jarring body camera footage during Emonte Morgan’s trial.
French and her two partners were on patrol in Englewood when they pulled over a Honda CR-V she believed had an expired registration. Emonte Morgan was in the back seat, where Yanez noticed an open alcohol container, video shows. French approached Eric Morgan in the driver’s seat and told the SUV’s occupants she could smell cannabis.
French patted down Eric Morgan near the front of the car, the footage shows. Meanwhile, her partners, Yanez and officer Joshua Blas, escorted Emonte Morgan and a young woman toward the back of the Honda.
The video shows Emonte Morgan argued with the officers as Yanez repeatedly told him to put away his phone and a drink he was holding.
“You’re doing too much, man,” Yanez said, as he and Blas led Emonte Morgan back toward the front of the car.
Then, Eric Morgan ran off and Blas chased after him. French went to the front of the SUV to help Yanez, who was pressed against Emonte Morgan, struggling to get control of his hand.
“Don’t move motherf—–” Yanez said. “Let me see your other hand.”
Seconds later, a scream is heard, along with the soft pop of a .22-caliber Glock handgun.
French’s body camera tilted upwards as she fell to the ground. Yanez’s camera also showed him falling backwards.
Blas’ camera captured him running back toward the shooting scene. Blas then opened fire, striking Emote Morgan in the arm and chest, prosecutors have said.
Emote Morgan ran to his brother and handed off the gun before collapsing from his injuries, prosecutors said. Eric Morgan fled to a nearby backyard, where he was held by a man hosting a barbecue until police arrived.