Thursday night's decision was in the hands of a single member of the Chicago Police Board who ruled that it should be up to the full police board to decide Officer Robert Rialmo's fate.
Chicago Police Board member Eva-Dina Delgado ruled that a hearing before the full police board was needed to determine the fate of Rialmo who shot and killed Quentonio Legrier and Bettie Jones in December 2015.
"I find the objections raised in response of superintendent are not sufficient," Delgado said.
The case has brought tempers to a boiling point.
Martin preib/fop
"What you have done tonight is paralyze the police," Martin Preib of the Fraternal Order of Police said. "No officer knows what he or she can do."
The decision comes after a faceoff between the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and police Supt. Eddie Johnson. COPA found that the shooting was not justified.
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Johnson says it was.
"For the grieving families of Quentonio Legrier and Bettie Jones, the ruling gives renewed hope to the process, that they hope will lead to justice," Rialmo's attorney Joel Brodsky said.
"Do the right thing," Janet Cooksey, Legrier's mother, said. "All I want is do the right thing."
"Rialmo going to jail for murder, that would be justice for me," Latoya Jones, Bettie Jones's daughter, said.
For now, Rialmo remains on paid desk duty and has been stripped of his police powers.
