TOPCOP: NEWFILM INSENSITIVE TO SLAIN COP’S FAMILY
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson on Friday bemoaned the release of a “Death Wish” re- make shot in Chicago, calling the movie insensitive to the still- grieving family of beloved Cmdr. Paul Bauer.
Bauer, the 53- year- old commander of the Near North District, was shot six times on the afternoon of Feb. 13 in a stairwell outside the Thompson Center, where he had confronted a man who was fleeing other officers. The modern- day version of a “Death Wish” franchise that starred actor Charles Bronson hit movie theaters Friday.
Bruce Willis plays the part of Dr. Paul Kersey, an Evanston emergency room surgeon who breaks bad — and delivers vigilante justice — to avenge the murder of his wife and daughter killed by home intruders.
The movie shows the ease with which the surgeon- turned- vigilante purchases the weapons and ammunition needed to get even. It also shows the carnage left behind as Kersey gets even.
For Johnson, the movie is ill- timed to say the least.
It’s “not the kind of narrative we want for our city”— particularly not while Bauer’s wife, Erin, and their 13- year- old daughter, Grace, are still grieving along with police, the superintendent said.
“Those people are going through enough . . . I wish that Hollywood would just be mindful of those types of things. The bottom line for them is money. I recognize they have a business to run. I just wish they would be more empathetic to people,’’ Johnson said, during a taping of theWLS- AM Radio program “Connected to Chicago,” to be broadcast at 7 p. m. Sunday.