- Police Brutality Watch

A 22-year-old Hunting Park man killed by police last Monday night near his home after pointing a handgun at an officer was shot in the back, police said yesterday. Authorities say William Baylor, of the 4100 block of North Franklin Street, was chasing another man and firing shots at him about 6 p.m. near Darien Street and Hunting Park Avenue when a police van arrived. The officers ordered Baylor to drop his weapon. Instead, police said, he turned and pointed the gun at them. One of the officers in the van, Robert McCollum, 40, of the 25th District, fired five shots at Baylor from his service weapon, police said. One of those slugs hit Baylor in the left side of his back and exited his chest, an autopsy has revealed, according to investigators. Homicide Unit detectives will examine how Baylor received the back wound and the position he was in when shot in relation to McCollum, police said.Members of Baylor's family are incensed over the killing and upset that police kept them back from the scene and away from him at the hospital. They contended that no life-saving procedures were performed and that police allowed him to lie too long at the scene. Police dispute both accusations, reporting that cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed on Baylor and that he arrived at the hospital - about a mile away - at 6:12 p.m., 12 minutes after the shooting. Baylor's mother, Cheryl, 37, said "They said he was shot in the back and it came out his chest. He was only shot one time," Baylor said she was told by a morgue official. "Why would you shoot my child in the back? I don't get it," she said. [more

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