A good kid was shot because he had a crush on a girl, and his murder was basically swept under a rug because homicide thought it was gang-related.
Chicago PD‘s “Equal Justice” episode showed that cases shouldn’t just be assumed as gang-related.
Intelligence was after drug dealer Dante (Julian Parker), who was selling heroin that was killing a lot of people. They didn’t expect to get involved in a cold murder case.
As they were following a lead, they ended finding Latrell (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) investigating his son, Shawn’s murder.
The team saw this as an opportunity to use him to get to Dante since he had already infiltrated his group.
It’s pretty incredible everything Latrell discovered on his own. He was right on the heels of his son’s murderer. When Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) and Latrell went undercover to catch Dante in a sting, it appeared that Dante was the one that pulled the trigger. Of course, Latrell wasn’t able to play it cool and they lost their chance at taking down Dante.
Jay came up with the idea to get him on Shawn’s murder. It would still get him and the heroin off the street. If only it was that simple.
This boy wasn’t a gang member. He was working in a market saving up to buy his dad an airconditioning unit and he had a crush on one of his co-workers, who unfortunately was dating a gang member, and her probation prohibited her from associating with criminals. She was their only witness, but she wouldn’t talk.
While Halstead and Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) were questioning a woman who worked at the market, they discovered no one from homiced followed up with her. That led to Jay paying a visit to his friend in homicide. He was angry that this good kid’s murder wasn’t looked into because it was assumed to be gang related and those aren’t high priority. But Jay was going to get to the bottom of it.
When Latrell came to see where they were in the investigation, Jay wouldn’t tell them the suspect’s name, but he shouldn’t have told him any details after knowing how good of a detective he was.
The father tracked down the guy before they got there and killed him first.
It’s heartbreaking that it came to this. It should have been solved by homicide and it didn’t seem like too difficult of a case to solve.
How many cases in real life have been left unsolved because it was assumed to be gang-related when the victim was innocent? Spencer on All American got shot, and the doctors assumed he was on something. I thought it was supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.
I think Halstead made the right call. They still arrested him but the case isn’t strong without the gun, so he should hopefully get off. Not that anyone should be let free after killing someone, but all he wanted to do was to get justice for his son.
When Latrell told Jay that he was the only cop that showed him any respect, he should have respected Jay enough to know he would get the guy that killed his son. They were on the verge of doing it.
Chicago PD has definitely changed. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) has definitely not been quite as rouge as he once was. But starting with Kevin Atwater’s (LaRoyce Hawkins) storyline last season, the writers started telling compelling stories about race. It’s not every episode, but they are being more thoughtful about it. It’s not that I would call Chicago PD a racist show before. With Atwater on the team, the color of his skin has come up before. But it’s in a very different way now. It’s not just about him. It’s about the bigger picture.
I don’t watch too many procedural cop shows. I started watching Chicago PD because of Sophia Bush. I stuck around because I liked the rest of the cast. I also liked the intense cases. Every single episode is so intense. But in a lot of ways, it probably is a typical procedural.
I like that the writers started writing these important stories about police and African Americans before the moment called for it. The show only scratched the surface before the pandemic shut down production and by the time they were back up, society was demanding it.
The important thing is they are tackling important issues and starting conversations. This week’s one was don’t assume the victim is gang-related just because he’s black. Shawn was such a good kid and was looked down on when he was murdered just because of his skin color.
What did you think of the case this week? Did you think Jay made the right decision? Tweet me @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
