Crusader staff report
Chicago Police officer Marco Proano on Monday, Nov. 20 was sentenced to five years in prison for excessive use of force, four years after he fired 16 shots into a vehicle, injuring two teenagers.
A federal jury convicted Proano in August, in a trial that shared some similarities with the Laquan McDonald case, where Officer Jason Van Dyke shot the teenager 16 times in October 2014.
The sentence is small considering that the conviction had the potential of locking up Proano for 20 years for wounding two teens, who along with four others, packed a Toyota Avalon at 95th and LaSalle when the shooting occurred on December 22, 2013.
Proano, 42, was indicted by a federal grand jury a year ago. He was suspended without pay from the Chicago Police Department and the Independent Police Review Authority has recommended his firing, while the city settled with the wounded teens for $360,000. One teen was injured in his left hip and right heel. The other teen suffered a wound to the shoulder.
