Police oversight officials released video Wednesday that shows a man being fatally struck by a semitrailer as he flees officers who said they saw him exit a stolen vehicle last month in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.
Two of the videos released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability captured the collision about 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 12 in the 800 block of South Cicero Avenue. A thud can be heard when Vesmo Banks, 35, is struck by the side of the semi, which Chicago police said then drove off.
“We had a person in a stolen car take off on foot running,” one officer is heard saying. “He ran into a semi.”
The two cops involved in the pursuit quickly called for assistance, but none of the responding officers appeared to render aid to Banks, and it took more than six minutes for an ambulance to arrive.
During that time, Banks lay with his legs on the busy roadway. He was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital about 2:55 p.m., authorities said.
The officers who tried to stop him are members of the police department’s vehicular hijacking task force, police said.
COPA reported they were in an unmarked police vehicle when they saw the stolen vehicle in a parking lot. When they drove into the lot, they “engaged” Banks as he stood outside the vehicle. After he was fatally struck after the brief chase, a gun was recovered at the scene, COPA said.
Anyone with information about the crash or more video footage should contact COPA at 312-746-3609 or ChicagoCOPA.org.
