COPA releases – Nearly five years after Chicago police officer Ella French was killed during a 2021 traffic stop, the city’s police accountability watchdog released bodycam video Wednesday, after court orders blocking release expired. The footage shows the moments before the
Nearly five years after Chicago police officer Ella French was killed, the moment the city had been forced to hold at a distance arrived anyway.
Oversight officials released body camera footage Wednesday afternoon showing the on-duty shooting that followed what had started as a routine traffic stop on Aug. 7, 2021. The video captures the brief stretch of time in which French was shot and killed and her partner. officer Carlos Yanez Jr. was seriously wounded.
In the immediate aftermath, gunman Emonte Morgan and his brother, Eric, were arrested. But court orders kept materials related to the shooting from being released while their criminal cases played out.
Those orders are now no longer in effect.
With the legal block lifted, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability published the video online Wednesday. The decision followed a request under the Freedom of Information Act. and in a statement COPA Chief Administrator LaKenya White said the release came “in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and in keeping with our commitment to transparency and public accountability.” She added: “As we do so. it is important to remember that this video captures a profoundly tragic event. Our thoughts remain with Officer Ella French and Officer Carlos Yanez Jr. their loved ones. colleagues. and all those whose lives were forever changed by this incident.”.
Jurors watched the same body camera footage during Emonte Morgan’s trial.
French and her two partners were on patrol in Englewood when they pulled over a Honda CR-V she believed had an expired registration. Emonte Morgan was in the back seat, where Yanez noticed an open alcohol container, the video shows.
French approached Eric Morgan. who was seated in the driver’s seat. and told the SUV’s occupants she could smell cannabis. The footage shows French patting down Eric Morgan near the front of the car. While that was happening. French’s partners—Yanez and officer Joshua Blas—escorted Emonte Morgan and a young woman toward the back of the Honda.
The video then captures mounting tension as Emonte Morgan argued with the officers. Yanez repeatedly told him to put away his phone and a drink he was holding. “You’re doing too much, man,” Yanez said as he and Blas led Emonte Morgan back toward the front of the car.
Eric Morgan then ran off, and Blas chased after him.
French moved toward the front of the SUV to help Yanez, who was pressed against Emonte Morgan and struggling to get control of his hand. “Don’t move motherf—–” Yanez said, according to the audio in the footage. “Let me see your other hand.”
Seconds later, a scream is heard along with the soft pop of a .22-caliber Glock handgun. French’s body camera tilted upward as she fell to the ground, and Yanez’s camera also showed him falling backwards.
Blas’ camera captured him running back toward the shooting scene. Blas then opened fire, striking Emonte Morgan in the arm and chest, prosecutors have said.
After he was hit, Emonte Morgan ran to his brother and handed off the gun before collapsing from his injuries, prosecutors said. Eric Morgan fled to a nearby backyard, where he was held by a man hosting a barbecue until police arrived.
The legal outcomes have followed a staggered path since that night. Eric Morgan pleaded guilty to gun charges in 2023 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. A year later. a jury took just hours to find his older brother guilty of murder and attempted murder. and Emonte Morgan was sentenced to life in prison.
With the court orders lifted, COPA has now moved the video from sealed evidence to public record—turning what once could not be seen into something the public can watch, frame by frame, even as the deaths and injuries remain the part no footage can soften.
Chicago police Ella French bodycam footage COPA FOIA Carlos Yanez Jr. Joshua Blas Emonte Morgan Eric Morgan Englewood traffic stop