CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Chicago Police Department has released scores of documents and video files in the Jussie Smollett investigation, including the officers' body cam videos of CPD’s first encounter with the “Empire” actor in the early morning hours after he claimed he was attacked.
In the lobby of Jussie Smollett's Streeterville building, his creative director meets officers and takes them up to Smollett's apartment. The door opens. Smollett is wearing a sweater, and a noose -- what looks like a white clothesline – around his neck.
After an explanation, one of the officers asks: “Do you want to take it off?”
Yes, Smollett replies, he just wanted authorities to see it. He then indicates he does not want officers to record him.
Smollett claimed he was attacked by two homophobic, racist men early on Jan. 29, but police eventually determined the actor – who is black and gay – staged the attack as a way to draw attention to himself.
Criminal charges were dropped against the actor, in a controversial deal struck with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. A special prosecutor will examine how that decision was made.
It’s unclear if Smollett will return to “Empire,” which is entering its final season on FOX.