But worse than that… the city and the [police] union did not tell the truth about what happened, they both said hours after the shooting that this young man lunged at police.
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Small groups of demonstrators gathered again Wednesday to protest the death of a black teen shot by a white police officer, and they urged supporters to join them in trying to shut down Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue shopping district during the Black Friday shopping bonanza.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, who led a large protest on Black Friday along the Mag Mile, scheduled another event at 11:30 a.m.at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters at 930 E. 50th St.
Nearly immediately, one of the officers appears to fire from close range. But the number filed against Van Dyke was high compared with other officers. Police entered a nearby Burger King restaurant shortly after the shooting, asking for the password to their surveillance video system. Earlier this year, a cellphone recording showed North Charleston, S.C., police Officer Michael Thomas Slager firing several shots into the back of an unarmed black man, 50-year-old Walter Scott, who was running away from the officer. But, Cook County prosecutors say, Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke continues shooting even after Laquan McDonaldhas crumpled to the asphalt.
The States Attorney said the Federal Bureau of Investigation contacted the Cook County state’s attorney’s office in November 2014, a few weeks after the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, and the two offices began working together on the case in December.
A judge has denied Van Dyke bail.
Prosecutors charged Van Dyke with first degree murder on Tuesday, and he is being held without bond.
In the wake of the video’s release, protesters and community leaders want a Justice Department investigation similar to ones conducted into the police departments in Cleveland and Ferguson, Missouri, and one now being conducted in Baltimore. Then McDonald can be seen lying on the ground, moving occasionally. Police officers along the sidewalk formed a barrier of sorts between the protesters and stores and helped shoppers get through the doors. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration tried to keep the recording of McDonald’s death from becoming public. Shut it down! She said she was representing her family, including her three grandchildren.
I cant say that I disagree with anything thats going on, Harlan said as protesters continued their march down the stretch of Michigan Avenue known as the Magnificent Mile.
Jackson said his group is planning on protesting on State Street on some unspecified future date.
But the city also has a poor record for dealing with everyday allegations of police misconduct, from unprofessional behavior to unnecessary force.
This week’s release of police dash cam video of McDonald’s killing is becoming a political as well as policing controversy. But it will take more than protests, more than the criminal prosecution of a single cop to fix the often fractious relationship between Chicago’s police and its people.
“You can not kill our children and expect us to be quiet any longer”, protester Quovadis Green said.
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A Chicago Tribune review of four years’ worth of complaints against police officers found that just over 4 percent were sustained, and in almost half of those cases, the officer was given a reprimand or a “violation noted”.
