Chicago police cars are set up so audio records along with video, police have said. In the video, Van Dyke is seen firing a volley of shots at McDonald, many of them after the teenager had already fallen to the ground. I know the vast majority of officers in the Chicago Police Department serve with bravery, honor and integrity.
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On Tuesday afternoon, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she had written a letter to US Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking the federal Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation into the Police Department’s use of “deadly force; the adequacy of its review and investigation of officers’ use of force and investigation of allegations of misconduct”. Emanuel announced a task force on Tuesday to look into Chicago’s police department, in the wake of the released footage of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald’s shooting by a white police officer. Emanuel cited a need for “fresh eyes and new leadership” as the city seeks to heal and move forward following the devastating release of details of McDonald’s shooting, the Chicago Tribune reported.
IT DIDN’T take long for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s rickety one-bad-apple narrative to implode.
But since Alvarez is up for reelection next year, the decision of whether she stays in office should be left to the people, Bradley said.
It cost him his job, one chief of detectives John Escalante will take over in the interim.
News broke this morning that Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has been discharged from his position by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “I’m responsible. I don’t shirk that responsibility”, Emanuel said. As an explanation for a white police officer firing his gun 16 times into the body of black teenager Laquan McDonald in October of previous year, it was a flimsy story from the outset given the systemic wrongdoing that allegedly followed the killing, and it quickly collapsed under the weight of popular outrage in the Windy City and across the country.
But when a Cook County judge’s ruling forced Emanuel to release the video to the public last week, the fallout for McCarthy and Emanuel was sharp and immediate.
Emanuel and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez have also received heat from other politicians and activists for their roles in holding off on releasing the dash-cam video to the public and filing charges against Van Dyke.
McCarthy had been harshly criticized for his handling of the McDonald case.
Last month, McCarthy fired an officer who shot and killed a woman in 2012.
Protesters have repeatedly demanded that Emanuel resign, the chief of police be fired and a federal investigation examine the behavior of public officials involved in the case. “I don’t expect that to change”.
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It appears as if the mayor is attempting to distance himself from the man he hand-picked to lead Chicago’s police force. Rising homicide rates and tension on the street often between police and the African American population seemed to plague the department.
