The Chicago Police Department released almost 70 hours of video Monday connected to the Jussie Smollett hate crime investigation, including police body camera video that shows Smollett with a noose around his neck.
In the video taken at Smollett's downtown apartment after the alleged attack in late January and obtained by WBBM-TV, Smollett still had a noose around his neck when police arrived.
“Do you want to take it off or anything?” an officer asks him in the clip. Smollett responds that he wanted police to see it.
“There’s bleach on me. They poured bleach on me,” he also told them in the video.
Other video clips show the Osundairo brothers allegedly getting ready for the assault on Smollett and running away afterward.
The actor told police he was attacked in downtown Chicago on Jan. 29 by two men who yelled racist and anti-gay slurs, looped a rope around his neck and poured a chemical on him.
>> Related: Jussie Smollett indicted by grand jury on 16 felony counts
By February, investigators alleged Smollett had recruited the two men to stage the attack because he was upset with his pay on the Fox television show “Empire.” Smollett has denied playing a role in the attack.
A grand jury returned 16 felony counts against Smollett in March for falsely reporting a hate crime, but the charges were abruptly dropped.
According to documents released last month, police had located and interviewed the Osundairo brothers, who they said confessed to carrying out the attack that Smollett planned and staged, according to WBBM-TV.
The documents also showed that a month before the case against Smollett was dropped, Chicago police investigators were told the charges would be resolved by the actor forfeiting to the city a $10,000 bond and agreeing to community service, which is what happened.
Credit: Nuccio DiNuzzo
Credit: Nuccio DiNuzzo
Smollett also refused to a look at a photo lineup of possible attackers, which included the Osundairo brothers, on the advice of his attorney, the documents showed.
Smollett has denied fabricating the attack, and in late February, all the charges were dropped in a deal with prosecutors in exchange for community service and the $10,000 bond forfeiture.
>> Related: Jussie Smollett not returning to ‘Empire’ after allegations of lying about hate crime
The city of Chicago then filed a lawsuit against Smollett to try and recover the costs of the investigation and redeem its reputation in the case.
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