Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced during a news conference that he had asked Garry McCarthy, police superintendent since May 2011, to resign.
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Calls for Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy’s resignation have been constant since last week’s release of the video showing Officer Jason Van Dyke’s shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Deputy Superintendent John Escalante will serve the post during a search for McCarthy’s replacement.
One week ago, dashcam video released showed one of Mccarthy’s officers taking out a black teen with 16 bullets. The task force will also be charged with strengthening the system to identify and evaluate cops who have received multiple citizen complaints and establishing a set of standards for the release of videos of police-involved shootings and incidents.
McCarthy appeared on ABC7 Eyewitness News This Morning, saying that he would “not give up on the good people of Chicago”, mere hours before his firing was reported.
Van Dyke, 37, was released from jail Monday after posting bond on a $1.5 million bail.
The Chicago Teachers Union said it supported Emanuel’s move. At least seven other officers were standing there when Mr. Van Dyke opened fire; if they lied about it, they should be prosecuted too. “It is a work in progress as we continue to build the confidence and the trust by the public in our police force”. Many see the city’s shroud over the McDonald footage as having delayed the massive protests that have become part of the nationwide debate on race and policing.
Emanuel said federal authorities were looking into the McDonald’s shooting and so would this new task force.
More protests were expected in the city on Tuesday night, according to organizers.
In an interview with CBS Chicago, McCarthy said recently he was aware the whole situation – from the shooting itself to the more than year-long delay in releasing the video of the shooting – would be “trouble”.
Madigan’s office said the probe should consider “the adequacy of its review and investigation of officers’ use of force and investigation of allegations of misconduct; its provision of training… and whether there exists a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing”.
November 19: A Cook County judge orders Chicago officials to release the video on or before November 25. The black teenager was gunned down on October 20, 2014.
“Now is the time for fresh eyes and leadership”, he said.
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Johnson’s mother, Dorothy Holmes, said Tuesday that wasn’t the case and he was running away from police.
