“Excessive and unreasonable force” is not just an issue in the black communities, but in all communities, especially the Latino community, Chicago Alderman George Cardenas, chairman of the Chicago Latino Caucus, said.
Lopez, 23, was undocumented. He worked as a janitor to send money back to his family in Mexico, Cardenas said.
Chicago police said Lopez was drunk when he purposely ran over Chicago Police Officer Brian Rovano after a traffic altercation in 2005. Several police officers opened fire in a shooting investigators said was justified.
“At that time, he continued to spin his tires. The officers, in fear for the officer’s life under the car, fired, killing him,” Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline said in September 2005.
Lopez was unarmed. His seatbelt was fastened.
“When it was all said and done, Lopez had 16 bullets in him. Fourteen in the back,” Cardenas said. Lopez, who was unarmed, was killed instantly, Cardenas said.
“Officer Rovano claimed that he emptied his gun from under the front of the car. One of the bullets was at a downward angle into Emanuel Lopez’s back. That is by far the most damning evidence in the case,” Terry Ekl, attorney for the Lopez estate, said.
The questions, according to Ekl: How does an officer who is pinned under the car fire a shot that hits the driver at a downgrade angle? How is it that an officer caught by a spinning car wheel shows no evidence of that on his uniform pants?
The police narrative of the Lopez shooting was signed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is now charged with first-degree murder in the Laquan McDonald murder.