Jan. 09--The account the two Chicago police officers provided about the fatal shooting of Esau Castellanos came to a dramatic conclusion.
After following Castellanos' car as it sped at about 80 miles an hour and then crashed on a Northwest Side street, they said, they approached the wreckage. Then, they said, Castellanos opened fire, forcing them both to dive to the ground to dodge the bullets before they killed Castellanos -- firing 19 shots and hitting him three times.
Almost immediately, though, the officers' account of the March 2013 shooting began to fall apart. No gun was found on Castellanos. Officer Juan Martinez, who told detectives he had been shot in the head, was never shot; he suffered just scrapes and bruises.
Then, two years later, the officers' account shifted as they suggested for the first time that a second man might have been in the car with Castellanos, a father of three from Mexico who worked as pizza delivery man and hoped someday to open his own restaurant.
The FBI told the Tribune on Friday that it was conducting a civil rights investigation into Castellanos' death, one of a handful of questionable police shootings that had been referred to federal authorities by Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates allegations of police misconduct.
An IPRA spokesman said the agency referred the matter to the FBI in the weeks after the shooting.
Why the federal investigation remains open some two years after the FBI became involved is unclear.
"The FBI will continue to collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to comment further at this time," said Garrett Croon, a spokesman for the bureau.
Cook County prosecutors are working with the FBI, according to Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.
Questions about Castellanos' death come as the city is under scrutiny for police-involved shootings and how investigations of those shootings are handled -- not only at the scene but in the days, weeks, months and even years after as they are litigated in the courts. A brief reference to the case was contained in 3,000 pages of emails related to police shootings that the city released on New Year's Eve. Among those emails were some from IPRA.
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department's use of force, while the FBI office in Chicago is known to be examining some shootings, including that of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014. Disturbing video of McDonald being shot 16 times prompted murder charges against Officer Jason Van Dyke and the firing of police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, in particular, has come under fire, as has IPRA for its flawed investigations. The city's Law Department, which defends the city against lawsuits, has also been the subject of scrutiny in recent days for how it deals with claims of police misconduct. The mayor announced that an outside law firm would conduct a review of the department.
The city is representing Martinez and his tactical unit partner, Officer Shawn Lawryn, in a federal civil rights lawsuit by Castellanos' survivors, who allege that his shooting was unjustified. Daniel O'Connor, the attorney for Castellanos' family, said Castellanos was unarmed and posed no threat to the two officers.
"The city told his daughter that her dad was shooting at the police and that's why he's dead," O'Connor said in an interview Friday. "They put it all over the news about how he was a bad guy and how these cops dove for cover and valiantly returned fire. It was a lie.
"The guy just had a bad accident," O'Connor added. "He needed medical attention. He didn't need to be shot."
Both officers had been on active duty until Friday night, when the Tribune asked the department about their status.
Interim Superintendent John Escalante responded that he had been unaware of the FBI investigation but was now placing both officers on administrative duty.
"I recently learned the FBI has an active investigation into an officer involved shooting which has been open for more than two years. Upon learning of this, I have ordered that both officers be immediately placed on administrative duties," he said in an emailed statement.
