Aurora, Illinois Dashboard Camera Video Shows Traffic Stop Before Teen's Death

AURORA, Illinois -- Aurora police made public the dash cam video of a traffic stop before a teen exchanged gunfire with police and ultimately shot himself.

They made the video public Monday afternoon in a Facebook post attributed to Police Chief Kristen Ziman. The post also described the October 4 incident in detail and documented Beacon-News requests for documents related to the traffic stop and shooting. The recording was made public about six months after the Beacon-News first requested the video and nearly a month after the Illinois Attorney General's office determined the city's withholding of some documents, including the video, was improper.

In the Facebook post — which included some descriptions of the incident that had previously been disclosed by authorities — police described officer Jason Woolsey approaching a vehicle that had been pulled over, in which Anthony Martell was a passenger, and questioning the driver and Martell.

"After several minutes, Mr. Martell fled the vehicle on foot and while running, fired at the officer," police said in the Facebook post. "Fearing for this life, Officer Woolsey was forced to return fire. Fortunately, the bullets from both weapons did not his either the officer, Mr. Martell or anyone else."

Martell, 18, ran into a yard and attempted to enter the home, according to the post. He ultimately shot himself in the head as officers were approaching him, police said in the post.

The video, which has no sound, depicts the squad car following a white sedan, and then the sedan pulling over at an intersection. It shows the officer walking up to the driver's side of the sedan and leaning down to the window. The officer appears to return for a time to the squad car, and then returns to the driver's side of the sedan. The driver of the sedan gets out of the car and appears to talk with the officer before returning to the car. Then the passenger gets out of the car and the passenger and officer talk, slowly moving toward the side of the road out of the range of the squad car's camera. The video then shows someone who appears to be the passenger running across the street and through the intersection, followed by what appears to be the officer.

Woolsey's firing his gun in Martell's direction was deemed justified during an investigation by the Illinois State Police, the findings of which were reviewed by the Kane County State's Attorney's office.

An internal Aurora police investigation also cleared Woolsey's actions, but faulted him for what police called on Facebook a "procedural error." He failed to notify dispatch when he began the traffic stop and neglected to activate the microphone for the video system in his squad car, and was issued a written reprimand and suspended for one day.

Police said on Facebook they view Woolsey's actions as correct. The post describes him as "a veteran, well-respected police officer in our Community Policing Bureau," and a military veteran whose "professionalism is an asset both to the department but especially to the city as a whole."

The post lists several reasons police initially denied parts of the Beacon-News' Illinois Freedom of Information Act request. Among those reasons are that the equipment to redact videos, which they said would hide the identity of bystanders and personal information, was not available until recently, when their video equipment was upgraded.

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