April 16--The city released dashboard camera video on Friday of the arrest of a man who died in police custody last summer as authorities announced two Chicago police officers had been placed on desk duty while the incident is investigated.
It was unclear why the department waited until the release of the video to remove the officers from street duties. Neither was publicly identified.
The video, captured by a police vehicle at the scene, shows an officer briefly placing his shoe on the neck of a prone Heriberto Godinez as he and a second officer tried to restrain him in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.
The city made the video public a little more than three weeks after Godinez's sister, Janet, filed a lawsuit to force the city to release the footage.
The sister's lawyer, Jeffrey Granich, blasted the city Friday evening for failing to first warn the family it was releasing the video.
"They hurt this family all over again with an act that is so disgusting," Granich said.
But Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the city's Law Department, said the family's lawyer was told Monday that the video would be released this week.
Police, responding to calls of a disturbance in the area, arrested Godinez July 20 after finding him in a garage in the 3000 block of West Pershing Road, authorities said at the time.
Officers thought Godinez might have been mentally ill and took him into custody after the owners of the property said they did not know him.
Godinez began sweating heavily and his breathing became labored, so officers called paramedics, but by the time paramedics arrived, Godinez was unresponsive, officials said at the time.
The Cook County medical examiner's office found that Godinez had died of cocaine and alcohol poisoning, with physical stress from his being restrained listed as "a significant contributing factor."
Godinez's death is under investigation by the FBI and the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police misconduct.
A spokesman for the Police Department said Friday that the two officers involved in Godinez's arrest "will be placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of IPRA's investigation."
As part of the fallout from the police video of Laquan McDonald being shot by an officer, the city announced a new policy in February under which it will release, within 60 days, audio and video recordings and police reports related to shootings, deaths in police custody or other major uses of force by officers. Law enforcement agencies can seek an additional 30-day delay.
jgorner@tribpub.com
asweeney@tribpub.com
