Jussie Smollett news: Chicago police release investigative files, video of alleged staged attack on 'Empire' actor

Authored by abc7chicago.com and submitted by sandleaz
image for Jussie Smollett news: Chicago police release investigative files, video of alleged staged attack on 'Empire' actor

EMBED >More News Videos Chicago police have released nearly 70 hours of video in the Jussie Smollett case.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police released their investigative files and video Monday of the alleged staged attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett in late January.Police released nearly 70 hours of video, all connected to the Smollett case.Police bodycam video shows officers arriving at Smollett's apartment in Streeterville. After going with his manager up to his apartment, they are greeted by the star with a rope coiled several times around his neck, claiming that two attackers doused him with bleach and put the noose over his head.Police blurred Smollett's face in the video that the I-Team obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request because at the time he was considered a victim."He doesn't want this to be a big deal, you understand what I'm saying," Smollett's manager tells officers on the video. "The thing that makes me emotional is they put this makeshift loop, what do you call that thing, a noose around his (expletive) neck. I'm sorry, you know. And that is what bothers me, the cut thing doesn't bother me at all. If that makes any sense."Inside the apartment, the video shows Smollett with the rope strung around his neck, which he tells police was put there by his attackers.Police ask him if he wants to remove the supposed noose, which he does, and then when informed that a police body camera is recording the whole thing, the actor asks that the camera be turned off."You're filming this right?" Smollett's manager asks."Yes, this is all data," an officer responds. "It's his house.""They are filming," Smollett's manager tells the actor. "Can we turn it off?""Yeah," the officer replies. "You are giving us permission to shut it off?"Smollett claimed he was the victim of a vicious hate crime in Streeterville in the late hours of January 29. He said two men physically attacked him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs, threw a chemical liquid on him and looped a rope around his neck.But the investigation turned on the actor as it continued. Chicago police said he orchestrated the attack with the help of the Osundairo brothers, who he knew. One brother was an extra on "Empire" and the other was Smollett's personal trainer.Police said the Osundairos took a cab to the pre-arranged attack site. In video from the car, the brothers are disguised in what look to be hazmat suits, which one tightens around his face. They climb out of the taxi and surveillance video shows them walking down the street to carry out the allegedly staged attack.Two days after the alleged attack, Chicago police released surveillance images of two people they said they considered persons of interest in the attack, which was taken from that video.Police said Smollett staged the attack at a corner where he believed a surveillance camera would capture the attack, and that the facial injuries he sustained were likely self-inflicted.Police also released bodycam video of the Osundairo brothers being detained by police at O'Hare International Airport after returning from Nigeria. They told police Smollett paid them to stage the attack.But the key scene from the police video is Smollett sporting the rope during his first encounter with officers, while his manager tells police the actor doesn't want this to become a big deal.Police initially charged Smollett with one count of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. A grand jury then returned an indictment for 16 counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report.All charges against Smollett were dropped in late February in exchange for community service and forfeiture of his $10,000 bond payment. That decision is already under a separate review by the county's inspector general.A special prosecutor will soon be appointed to look into why Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx dropped the case and whether Smollett should be re-charged.

rvncto on June 25th, 2019 at 05:15 UTC »

That was the funniest shit. Even the way the video starts. “He’s the star of that show Empire ... he doesn’t want to make a big deal about”... then they walk in and he’s got the newest piece of rope I’ve ever seen around his neck Hahha..., then ,then one of the cops says “ do you want to take it off or anything?” Hahahah. That was gold.

troglody on June 25th, 2019 at 04:12 UTC »

Officer: you dont want to remove the noose? Smolette: i do, i just wanted you to see it first.

Sounds like an actor using a prop to me.

The first thing you would do after you were "attacked" this way would be to throw that thing off as soon as possible, maybe even leaving it at the crime scene. You sure as shit wouldnt get back to your room to look into the mirror for damage to your face, then you notice you have a noose hanging off your neck and decide to wear it like a costume until the police arrive.

GuacamoleFanatic on June 25th, 2019 at 02:23 UTC »

Case Highlights. More sure to be released.

• Chicago Police released 69 hours of video related to Jussie Smollett's alleged hate crime case on Monday 

• The trove of never-before-seen footage includes police bodycam video of officers finding Smollett with a noose around his neck

• In that clip he says that he kept the noose on because he wanted police 'to see it' 

• Another shows the Osundairo brothers in a taxi on their way to meet Smollett on the night of the attack wearing hooded jackets and a ski mask at 1.22am

• A third clip shows the Osundairo brothers running on South Water Street at 2.01am, a minute after the alleged attack 

• A fourth video shows cops arresting the Osundairo brothers on February 14

• The Empire actor had claimed that he was attacked by two men who launched racial and homophobic slurs at him and threw a noose on him on January 29

• Police later determined that he staged the attack and charged him with filing a false police report

• Those charges were subsequently dropped by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, sparking outrage and launching an investigation into her decision 

• The release of the tapes comes days after a judge decided to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the Cook County prosecutor Kim Foxx work in the case