Video of Jussie Smollett With Rope Around His Neck Released by Chicago Police

In one of the videos, police body-cam footage shows authorities entering Smollett’s Chicago apartment. Smollett is found by the officers with ropes strung around his neck, which he says were put on by the attackers. Smollett asked police to turn their cameras off when he realized they were recording.

Smollett claimed to have been assaulted by two men who shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him on Jan. 29. The police later concluded that he had hired two men, Abel and Ola Osundairo, to carry out the attack. Smollett continues to deny that the event was staged.

He was indicted on 16 counts of filing a false police report, but the charges were later dropped in exchange for a $10,000 bond.

That decision met with immediate backlash, as State’s Attorney Kim Foxx was accused of cutting a sweetheart deal for the actor. Last week, a judge ordered the appointment of a special counsel to reexamine the case, with the option of filing fresh charges against the actor.

The city of Chicago is also pursuing Smollett in civil court to recoup the $130,000 overtime cost stemming from the investigation.
 

More to come…