President Barack Obama has said he is “deeply disturbed” by a police video that shows a white officer shooting a black teenager 16 times in Chicago.
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Protest groups returned to the streets of Chicago on Wednesday, one day after the city released a squad-car video showing a white police officer fatally shoot a black teenager.
Mr Obama said he is asking Americans to “keep those who’ve suffered tragic loss in our thoughts and prayers” this Thanksgiving “and to be thankful for the overwhelming majority of men and women in uniform who protect our communities with honour”. “I’m personally grateful to the people of my hometown for keeping protests peaceful”.
It was the first time a Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty fatality in more than 30 years, the Chicago Tribune reported. McDonald spins around and collapses on the pavement. There were 16 shots fired over 15 seconds, all by Van Dyke. Alvarez, Cook County State’s Attorney, said Tuesday that a 3-inch knife with its blade folded into the handle was recovered from the scene.
Five people were arrested late on Tuesday in mostly peaceful rallies, and a new round of protests on Wednesday at Chicago’s criminal courthouse and City Hall were sparsely attended.
No audio or conversations among officers is heard in the videos, but sirens hiss in the background of some of them. Herbert, however, was quick to say that video “is not always that clear”.
Those tapes include the one widely shown on Tuesday, which provides the most complete coverage of the shooting released to date. Chicago police said they arrested five protesters during overnight demonstrations. McDonald, who reportedly had been acting oddly, was carrying a three-inch knife, and toxicology reports indicate he had the drug PCP in his system. McCarthy said his department was preparing for the worst but not expecting it: “We are not predicting doom and gloom, we are predicting protests”. They also showed pictures of black people who had been killed by police in recent years and called on people to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.
On Thursday, a Cook County judge agreed and gave the department until Wednesday to release it. A few hours later, the city announced there would be no appeal and said it would comply with the order.
The city approved a $5 million settlement for McDonald’s family in April. While other Chicago police vehicles at the scene were equipped with working cameras, Alvarez said, none of the vehicles was positioned to capture the shooting. None of the videos show the shooting, but Laquan can be seen running from police before it and lying in the street afterward.
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FOX 32: What should Officer Van Dyke be doing at that point? “There is no good reason why she has waited this long to file charges against Officer Van Dyke”, Rev. Charles Straight, a leader of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation said in a statement Tuesday evening. We urge the Justice Department to swiftly investigate both shootings as hate crimes and to use every tool in their power to bring justice to Laquan McDonald and the Black Lives Matter activists in Minneapolis.
