CHICAGO — The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) released its summary report Wednesday that details its investigation’s findings and recommendations in the 2021 fatal shooting of Anthony Alvarez by a Chicago police officer.
Alvarez, 22, was fatally shot by Chicago police Officer Evan Solano after a foot chase in the Portage Park neighborhood. In July, Police Board member Steven Block reviewed COPA’s investigation and denied its recommendation to fire Solano. He had sided with Chicago police Superintendent David Brown’s recommendation for a 20-day suspension for Solano instead.
Andrea Kersten, COPA’s chief administrator, had expressed her disappointment in Block’s decision and said she stood by COPA’s investigation and findings.
At the time of the police board meeting, the summary report was not publicly available. The 46-page report was made available to read on COPA’s website Wednesday.
Alvarez was shot while moving away from Solano, who was pursuing him and yelling at him to “drop the gun,” a video of the shooting released last year showed. Solano fired shots, and footage shows Alvarez drop a pistol as he fell to the ground. He was shot in the back and thigh, an autopsy later revealed.
COPA found that Solano and his partner, Officer Sammy Encarnacion, had both failed to timely activate their body worn cameras, failed to fully load their firearm in violation of department policy, and that Solano’s use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable because Alvarez did not pose an imminent threat, according to the report.
Solano said he believed that Alvarez was going to shoot because he had twice looked over his right shoulder toward Solano and was starting to turn toward him, the report said. Solano also said he couldn’t see the firearm because it was tucked in Alvarez’s stomach.
In video from Solano’s body worn camera and a front-door camera, Alvarez did change his direction slightly just before being shot but the firearm was not pointed or moving toward Solano, the report said.
His family filed a lawsuit in February alleging the city bears responsibility for his death partly because the Chicago Police Department did not have a policy on foot pursuits at the time. The family’s lawsuit states that Alvarez did not threaten the officers or anyone else, and that police had no valid reason to stop him or chase him that night.
His death came just days after a different Chicago police officer fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo during a foot chase. The two shootings sparked protests and prompted the city to implement a policy on foot pursuits. In April 2021, COPA had recommended to Chicago police officials that Solano be relieved of his police powers during its investigation, an action that would require the officer to forfeit his badge and gun for work purposes while assigned to paid desk duty. He was stripped of his police powers in June 2021. In January, COPA concluded its investigation of the Alvarez shooting.
In March, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced her office would not bring criminal charges against the officers involved in the Alvarez and Toledo shootings. Foxx said at a news conference that prosecutors determined both officers reasonably believed they were in danger when they opened fire. Both Toledo and Alvarez were carrying guns on the nights they were shot.
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