Under mounting pressure to fire his top cop, Emanuel announced on Monday that he’ll appoint a police accountability task force to assess the department’s policies-a tried and true stalling tactic.
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Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired the city’s police superintendent Tuesday, a week after the release of a dash-cam video that showed a white Chicago officer fatally shooting a black teenager 16 times.
The video shows Van Dyke gunning down McDonald in the middle of a street on October 20, 2014, as McDonald was walking away from police who had confronted him.
Chicago has one of the highest murder rates of the biggest US cities, with some 400 people killed every year in gun violence.
Chicago’s police chief has been sacked amid mounting controversy over the shooting death of a black teenager that led to one of his officer’s being charged with murder.
Garry McCarthy has held the position since 2011, making him the only superintendent that has served under Emanuel, who was re-elected to his second term in April 2015.
In spite of arrests, the nonviolent nature of the Chicago protests has been a relief to many, a hope that dialogue is possible and the mayor’s proposed police task force may provide impetus for progress in the department.
Van Dyke had a history of complaints before he shot McDonald, and in nearly every case, he was cleared.
Van Dyke would have to post $150,000 to be set free.
“What I’ve asked the task force to do: see if the oversight and the accountability of discipline systems are as vigorous as they need to be and if there are any changes”, Emanuel said. It wasn’t until a Cook County judge ruled earlier this month that Emanuel and his administration had violated the state’s open records law and ordered the video to be released to the public that the mayor agreed to do so. The video capturing his death was released after a judge’s ruling.
The student, Jabari R. Dean, had allegedly threatened to kill 16 students or staff, followed by police officers, on the university’s campus Monday morning, the Tribune reports. I will be armed with an M-4 Carbine and 2 Desert Eagles all fully loaded. McDonald was shot at around 9:57 p.m.
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“I then will die killing any number of white policemen that I can in the process”. I am to do my part to rid the world of the white devils. “What I will tell you is the mayor has made it very clear”. He did not enter a plea later in the day on a charge of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce in court. He is facing up to five years in prison.
