An Illinois State Police investigation of an officer involved shooting in Oak Park on May 31 has concluded. The results of the investigation have been turned over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for its prosecutorial review, Wednesday Journal has confirmed.
Christian Wallace, 38, was pulled over for a traffic stop near Austin Blvd. and Harrison Street on Sunday evening, May 31. After he exited his car at the direction of the still-unidentified officer, the officer patted him down and detected a handgun. An extended, hand-to-hand fight ensued near gas pumps at the Shell station for control of the weapon. Eventually, Wallace regained the gun and was then shot multiple times by the Oak Park officer. Wallace died of those injuries.
Oak Park police turned the investigation of the shooting over to the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Unit. As is protocol, once that investigation was completed, it was turned over to the local state’s attorney’s office for review and a determination of whether criminal charges against the officer were warranted.
In response to an inquiry from the Journal, the state’s attorney’s office said in a Sept. 3 email, “We can confirm that the matter is under review by prosecutors in our Law Enforcement Review Unit (LERU), who review investigations of all on-duty officer involved shootings to determine if criminal charges are appropriate. We are unable to further comment at this time.”
On Sept. 4 a spokesperson for the village of Oak Park wrote in an email that, “The village has been made aware that the investigation has been submitted to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for review. As the investigation remains active and ongoing in that regard, we will not make any additional comment at this time. We will defer to the state’s attorney’s office for any future updates on the status of its review.”
In response to community concerns over the traffic stop and the shooting, the village of Oak Park released officer worn body camera, dash cam and gas station security footage of the incident on June 30. That video also reported that Wallace was pulled over for failing to signal a lane change on Austin Blvd. In July, the village board took steps to limit the reasons officers can use to initiate a traffic stop. It also turned to its Citizen Police Oversight Committee and a consultant to undertake a more thorough policy review related to traffic stops.
The May 31 officer involved shooting was the first to result in a death in nearly 40 years. The officer remains on medical leave.
