Difficult bodycam footage marked first week of Officer Ella French trial

Throughout the week, Cook County jurors viewed shockingly violent body-camera footage, watching a death happen over and over.

They viewed chaotic movements and heard screams as they watched the shootings of Officers Ella French and Carlos Yanez Jr. during a traffic stop on Aug. 7, 2021. They watched officers carrying their fallen colleagues to police vehicles before racing to the hospital. They saw the blood on the seats of the cars, and doctors rushing to address their wounds.

The trial for a man accused of killing French and seriously injuring Yanez broke for the weekend Friday after a week marked by difficult footage, bringing tears from family and observers in the gallery, witnesses and even jurors. The trial will resume on Tuesday.

Emonte Morgan, 23, is charged with murder, attempted murder and other felonies in the slaying of French, injuring of Yanez and of shooting at their partner, Joshua Blas. Blas returned fire and struck and injured Morgan.

With body cameras in use for all Chicago Police Department patrol officers by the end of 2017, footage has become the norm in cases involving shootings of or by police, an important tool for investigation and accountability. It means that jurors and courtroom observers are able to watch, to some extent, a shooting unfold.

CPD began testing body-worn cameras for patrol officers in 2015, and its use expanded later as part of broad reform efforts spurred by the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by CPD Officer Jason Van Dyke in 2014. The SAFE-T Act further expanded body-camera use across Illinois, requiring that all police officers in the state be outfitted with cameras by 2025.

“Because of body-worn camera, you will have a front-row seat to the absolute carnage this defendant unleashed on those police officers,” Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Clark told the jury in opening statements Tuesday at the trial of the man accused of killing French.

Defense attorneys, though, have contended that the footage can only go so far in offering proof. They’ve argued that the video in the moment of the shooting is too muffled and chaotic to make out what happened.

“Unfortunately, what you’re not going to see is anything from body-worn camera during this interaction at the front passenger seat,” Assistant Public Defender Kristine Neal said. “They’re too close together. You see movement, clothing and hear shots go off.”

During the trial, jurors heard from Yanez, Blas and Elizabeth French, Ella’s mother, as well as testimony from first responders, forensic technicians and DNA scientists. They were sworn in on Monday after fielding questions about whether they can put any bias or preconceived notions about the case aside amid the heavy pretrial publicity.

Tuesday: ‘She called me on her way to work’

Elizabeth French smiled as she viewed a photograph of her daughter dressed in full police gear.

“It’s one of my favorites of Ella,” she said.

French testified that she spoke to Ella just before work as usual, telling her she loved her, to be careful and be safe.

“She called me on her way to work,” French said.

“Was that unusual?” prosecutors asked.

“No,” she answered. “She liked to call me on the way to work.”

Jurors also heard extensively from Blas, the third partner riding with French and Yanez that night.

According to prosecutors, French, Yanez and Blas pulled over an SUV occupied by Emonte Morgan, his brother, Eric, and a woman for expired plates around 63rd Street and Bell Avenue. Eric Morgan handed over the keys when asked, prosecutors have alleged, but Emonte Morgan refused to put down a drink and a cellphone he was holding, leading to a scuffle, prosecutors said.

Blas testified that he chased after Eric Morgan when he took off, then returned when he heard gunfire.

Blas’ anguished yells were audible on body-camera footage: “French … French!” he yelled. “Yanez!”

Wednesday: ‘I couldn’t move anything’

Yanez took the stand and fought to compose himself as he was asked to spell his name.

He described the injuries he suffered and his long recovery. He still can feel a bullet lodged in his neck that doctors felt shouldn’t be removed, he said. He was confined to a wheelchair after the shooting but now walks with a limp. He uses hearing aids and wears a prosthetic eye.

He can no longer serve as a police officer.

Yanez told the jury that he recalled the start of the traffic stop, but later couldn’t remember anything until he was lying on his back, shot.

“I was completely paralyzed,” he said. “I couldn’t move anything.”

Witnesses on Wednesday also described the arrests of Eric and Emonte Morgan. Eric Morgan was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the shooting in October.

After getting shot by Blas, prosecutors said, Emonte Morgan ran to where his brother was.

Body-camera video shown to the jury showed Emonte on the ground on a sidewalk, and Eric, inside a fenced yard where investigators also recovered the gun, according to testimony. Eric had been tackled by a “good Samaritan” according to prosecutors, after he jumped a fence into their yard.

Thursday and Friday: ‘Time was a crucial factor’

As the week came to a close, evidence technicians told the jury about processing the sprawling crime scene and responding officers described arriving to a chaotic scene.

On Friday, jurors heard and saw reams of technical evidence, as prosecutors put on the stand an evidence technician who processed the vehicle driven by Eric Morgan, a firearms expert who examined the weapons and casings and a DNA expert.

The day before, Officer Nicolas Morales testified that he heard a frantic call for help over the radio and arrived to find Yanez and French on the ground. French was unresponsive, and Yanez was softly moaning, “I’m shot.”

Morales and other officers scrambled to put Yanez and French in the back of separate squad cars to more quickly get them to the hospital. Body-camera footage showed them racing away from the scene and helping place the officers on gurneys.

The footage, which caused observers to tear up, showed an officer giving chest compressions to French in the car. Another video depicted doctors as they began to work on Yanez, cutting his pants and administering to his wounds.

“Time was a crucial factor,” Morales said.