Police oversight officials released case files Thursday from their investigation of an officer who fatally shot a 19-year-old man after being pinned against his police SUV earlier this year in Hanson Park on the Northwest Side.
The cache of documents provided by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability includes dashcam footage of Juan Flores backing an SUV into the officer, who then opens fire.
Flores called police at 12:19 a.m. Sept. 10, complaining that someone at a party in the 900 block of North Kedvale had taken the keys to his Honda Pilot, according to an audio recording. Flores noted that his girlfriend’s father had taken his keys.
“He said he’s not gonna give me my keys until I apologize to his daughter,” Flores said in the call after claiming the older man had a gun.
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Flores can be heard in a police body-camera feed telling officers that his girlfriend’s father’s friends took his jacket and keys and that the father had kicked him out of the party because he was “going out with his daughter.”
“I just want to look for my keys, that’s it,” Flores said as he searched for his property. “I don’t want no problem with him.”
Throughout the body-camera video, the father and the other party-goers denied that anything had been taken. Through a translator, Flores’ girlfriend’s father told officers the teen was trying to drive drunk and should be arrested.
As Flores searched a backyard for his property, another person emerged with his keys claiming they were in his sport-utility vehicle all along, the video shows.
An emotional Flores then got back in to the SUV and sped off as an officer ordered him to stop, the video shows.
Dashcam footage of the ensuing pursuit shows Flores backing his SUV into Officer Jesse Oeinck, pinning him against the hood of a police cruiser as he tried to stop the 19-year-old in the 2100 block of North Laramie.
Just before 1 a.m., Oeinck can be seen shooting at the SUV, then resting his weapon on the cruiser’s hood and crumpling to the ground. He fired five rounds, according to a police report.
Flores died at the scene, not far from his home, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which ruled his death was a homicide. An autopsy found he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Oeinck was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. A police lieutenant signed off on a report indicating he had acted within departmental guidelines.
Per departmental policy, Oeinck was placed on administrative duty for 30 days while the shooting was investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority.
WARNING: Graphic content. Incident occurs at 04:49.
