Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation into a 2020 Chicago police shooting at a Red Line station that was caught on cellphone video, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
On Feb. 28, 2020, Officer Melvina Bogard shot 34-year-old Ariel Roman on a platform at the Grand station, one of the city’s busiest train stops.
Roman was ordered to appear before a federal grand jury on Jan. 14 at the Dirksen Federal Building, according to a subpoena obtained by the Sun-Times. He was asked to provide medical records that stemmed from the shooting.
A letter signed by John Lausch, Chicago’s top federal prosecutor, noted those records were being sought “pursuant to an official criminal investigation,” the Sun-Times reported.
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Before the police department was able to issue a statement about the shooting, video captured by a passerby went viral, fueling media attention and stoking public interest in the case.
Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability last year released more than a dozen videos that showed officers responding to the shooting.
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The videos (which can be viewed here) show Roman on the train with CPD officers, and then shows him exiting the train after engaging with officers. The released videos then show Roman interacting with officers on the train platform before he was shot. Yet another video shows Roman bleeding on the ground after suffering multiple gunshot wounds.
Civil rights attorney Andrew M. Stroth, who represents Roman, said at the time that his client’s life had “changed forever” as a result of the incident.
“He has a bullet lodged in his lower back next to his cystic nerve, and he had another bullet go through his abdomen,” Stroth said. “He had additional surgeries to his intestines.”
Stroth said the case will be a "test" for Supt. David Brown "on what he will do in Chicago as it is related to excessive use of force, and is he going to follow through as related to consent-decree (matters) and substantive police reform.”
