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Chicago police officer faces criminal charges stemming from a 2020 shooting on a train platform. - Melvina Bogard is accused of tasing and shooting an unarmed man after approaching him for violating an ordinance.
- Ariel Roman survived the shooting and has filed a federal lawsuit against Bogard and another cop.
A Chicago police officer has been charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct for shooting a man twice last year on a train platform, a spokesperson for the Cook County State's Attorney's Office confirmed to Insider.
Officer Melvina Bogard, 32, who is accused of shooting Ariel Roman at a train station in downtown Chicago on February 28, 2020, surrendered to the state's attorney's office on Thursday morning.
Roman alleged in a federal lawsuit filed last year that he was suffering from an anxiety attack when he encountered Bogard and another officer, Bernard Butler, who also was named as a defendant. Both officers face department discipline and possible termination, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Roman alleges in the lawsuit, which was viewed by Insider, that he was "was harassed, chased, tackled, pepper-sprayed, tasered, and shot twice" by the officers, both of whom had less than three years experience on the force.
The officers first approached Roman when he entered their train car while it was in operation, which is a violation of a city ordinance, according to the lawsuit. Roman told the officers he crossed the cars because he "felt threatened."
The shooting was captured on cellphone video and transit surveillance video.
The footage shows the officers removing Roman from a train. On a platform outside, Bogard attempts to hold Roman to the ground, tases him, and then fires her gun. He was shot again when he attempted to flee. Roman was critically injured, but survived.
Bogard was hired by the
At a bond hearing on Thursday, her attorney, Tim Grace, and prosecutors told the judge that Bogard had "no publishable criminal record."
Grace argued that the shooting followed a more than eight minute-long struggle with Roman, who refused to cooperate with officers. Roman was intoxicated at the time, Grace said, and officers later found drugs in his backpack.
Bogard, whose mother was a 25-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, had attempted to radio for backup 10 times before she fired her weapon, but the radio wasn't working, her lawyer said.
Bogard was released without bond Thursday on the condition that she surrender her firearm, which she had already done.