Several Oak Park residents expressed their frustration during an Oak Park Village Board meeting Tuesday night and wanted more information after a 38-year-old Chicago man was shot and killed last week during a traffic stop in the village.
Five people spoke during the non-agenda public comment section of the meeting regarding the police involved shooting. Some questioned the village and police, and said the victim, Christian Wallace, should still be alive.
Brynne Hovde, an Oak Park resident, questioned board members on whether she would be stopped and asked to get out of the car had she been in the same situation Wallace was in.
“Previous boards have said this would never happen here,” Hovde said. “Of course it has. It was inevitable to happen here. And what are the seven trustees, the five that we have here, going to do about it?”
Hovde also asked for the village and police to release bodycam footage of the shooting.
Kristina Rogers, an Oak Park resident, shared the same sentiment.
“What is the point of government if it can not protect its people?” Rogers said. “What is the point of government if it cannot protect its people from itself?”
Rogers said that Wallace should not have been killed. She said that about 1,000 people are murdered by police each year and that it was inevitable for it to happen in Oak Park.
“There is no world where a police officer needs to shoot at someone nine times, hitting them four. No world,” Rogers said.
Rogers told the board that they have the power to make sure that another police shooting never happens again.
During the meeting, Vicki Scaman, Oak Park’s village president, said she “anticipated being able to make a statement that we were going to release the video today.”
Scaman said the board is in contact with the family and the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force, who is in charge of the investigation.
“You do have my word that we will be releasing the video as soon as we are actually able,” Scaman said. “As a board, we are to gather in our commitment to this transparency and are prepared to be as responsive as possible during this very challenging time.”
Wallace sustained four gunshots late night on May 31 following a traffic stop in Oak Park at the vicinity of Harrison Street and Austin Blvd. A police officer told Wallace to exit the vehicle and found Wallace carrying a weapon during a protective pat down, according to village officials.
After a “struggle” over control of the weapon, according to village officials, Wallace regained possession of the weapon and the officer shot Wallace with his own weapon. Wallace was pronounced dead at 9:59 p.m., officials said.
A firearm with a defaced serial number was recovered at the scene, reports said.
chardy@chicagotribune.com
