A manager of that Burger King has accused Chicago police who came into the restaurant shortly after the shooting of erasing surveillance video.
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About 13 people laid on their backs outside the shops on Michigan Avenue as another dozen stood chanting to express anger over the shooting of Laquan Mcdonald.
The reports, released by the city late Friday, show that Officer Jason Van Dyke and at least five other officers claim that the 17-year-old Laquan McDonald moved or turned threateningly toward officers, even though the video of the October 2014 shooting shows McDonald walking away, and the scenario sketched out by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in charging Van Dyke with murder also contends that he was walking away.
The police department ultimately ruled the death as justifiable homicide, but later charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder as the video of the incident was about to be released, more than a month later.
The police reports refer to him as the “offender” and Van Dyke and other officers as “victims”.
Van Dyke’s partner, identified as Joseph Walsh, told an investigator that he repeatedly yelled “Drop the knife!” at McDonald and backed up as the teenager “continued to advance toward the officers”. The dash cam video, however, was released without audio, so there is no way to see if that statement is true or false.
Chicago officials fought against the release of the dashboard-camera video for months before a judge forced the city to make the footage public.
In the report, Officer Ricardo Viramontes says Van Dyke continued to shoot at the teen while he was on the ground because he kept moving.
Van Dyke told an investigator he feared McDonald would rush him with the knife or launch it at him.
The release of the Laquan Mcdonald police reports brought out protesters once again Saturday. Officers claimed, too, that even after McDonald had been shot by Van Dyke, McDonald tried to lift himself off the ground with the knife pointed toward the officers, and though he had been mortally wounded, still presented a threat.
“When McDonald got within 10 to 15 feet of Officer Van Dyke, McDonald looked toward Van Dyke”, the report states. He was “swinging knife in aggressive, exaggerated manner”, Van Dyke told detectives.
Federal officials with the Justice Department have been called in to investigate the shooting itself and the subsequent investigation, according to a law enforcement source.
The video, however, shows McDonald’s lifeless body as he’s being shot multiple times. Release of the video has led to a torrent of protest and criticism over the way Emanuel and his police department handled the investigation into the shooting. VD continued firing. O appeared to be attempting to get up, still holding knife. “If the criminal investigation concludes that any officer participated in any wrongdoing, we will take swift action”, he said in an emailed statement.
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One of the reports noted what it called McDonald’s “irrational behavior”, such as ignoring verbal directions, “growling” and making noises. At the time of his death, the teen reportedly had PCP in his system.
