Chicago police officers who fatally shot a man as he stabbed a victim in the middle of a busy West Side street in May 2024 have been cleared of wrongdoing, according to documents released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
The incident occurred late on May 27, 2024, in the 300 block of South Cicero Avenue, where Tracey Watson, 35, was shot and killed by officers as he stood over a victim making stabbing motions.
According to COPA’s findings, a witness flagged down two officers to report that Watson was chasing their friend with a knife. The officers spotted the men nearby and attempted to engage them. From their patrol car, one officer ordered Watson to drop his knife, but Watson ignored the command and continued advancing toward the victim, COPA concluded.
As officers stood nearby, the victim fell to the pavement, attempting to protect himself while Watson stood over him making stabbing motions. The officers “verbally directed [Watson] to drop the knife several times, and [Watson] failed to do so,” COPA said in a written summary report.
Both officers fired their weapons, killing Watson as he allegedly attacked the victim. The victim was also struck by gunfire but survived.
Shortly after the shooting, Watson’s family disputed the police account, alleging that officers never ordered Watson to drop the weapon.
“My cousin said they never said ‘drop the knife’ or nothing,” a relative told ABC7. “He said they didn’t hear none of that.”
COPA concluded both officers “acted reasonably” by shooting Watson, finding that “other force options were unlikely to be effective,” and their use of force “was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm” to the victim.
The agency also found the officers “used de-escalation techniques prior to using force, including verbal commands and officer presence.”
“The officers paused after their first volley of shots to give [Watson] a chance to comply with their commands before firing again,” according to COPA’s report.
Regarding the unintentional shooting of the victim, COPA found “the officers faced a lack of alternative option that would prevent [Watson] from stabbing and/or slashing [the victim] without unreasonably placing themselves in jeopardy.”
While both officers’ body cameras recorded the shooting, COPA recommended both officers receive reprimands for not activating the cameras earlier. The agency found that because the officers were responding to an unrelated call when the witness flagged them down, they were already engaged in “law enforcement activity” and should have activated their cameras when they started their response.
All of the materials released by COPA, including the officers’ bodycam footage, is available here.
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