Emanuel, McCarthy and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez have faced criticism for taking 13 months to release the video of the 2014 shooting and to charge Van Dyke. And in Seattle, nearly all police video is posted online almost immediately, though special software blurs the images; a video with clear images must be requested.
Advertisement
The mayor, a Democrat and the former chief of staff to U.S. President Barack Obama, said he was responsible for what happened in the case, the same as the police superintendent. Van Dyke also referred to a Chicago Police Department bulletin warning officers of a knife capable of firing a bullet. He says the video’s clearly fake.
Chicago officials have released police reports in the shooting death of a black teenager by a white police officer revealing a narrative that contradicts what video footage depicts.
After McDonald was killed, investigators with the Independent Police Review Authority visited the Burger King to look at their videos, and immediately asked about the gap in the footage.
Oppenheimer says the release of McDonald’s video has a “great impact” on his case, and he hopes now “the cover-ups may slowly start to end”. One of the vehicles from which no video has been provided “is directly facing officer (Jason) Van Dyke during the entirety of the shooting incident”, lawyers wrote in the motion.
Over a week after the Laquan McDonald shooting dashcam video was released, Gov. Bruce Rauner weighed in and said he was so shocked, he cried.
The release of 2014 dashboard-mounted video showing McDonald being shot 16 times by police was the match that set off the powder keg, revitalizing allegations of negligence and what some are calling a systemic problem of excessive police force. But Earl-Hubbard said judges have pushed back recently, insisting that city officials specify precisely how a video release could impede an investigation. Emanuel has also since announced the expansion a body camera program and formed a task force. “We want a full, thorough investigation with subpoena power”, Jackson said.
The police reports refer to him as the “offender” and Van Dyke and other officers as “victims”. The report shows Van Dyke’s partner backed up his account of what occurred. Van Dyke claims McDonald “was swinging the knife in an aggressive, exaggerated manner” and got within “10 to 15 feet” of him. “VD continued firing. O appeared to be attempting to get up, still holding the knife, pointing at VD”. He said he eventually kicked the knife away from McDonald and then told the dying teenager “Hang in there” as an ambulance was called. But one of the police reports said the recovered knife’s “blade was in the open position”.
One of the reports noted what it called McDonald’s “irrational behavior”, such as ignoring verbal directions and “growling” and making noises. Another report describes how Van Dyke feared for his life.
Advertisement
Redactions in the police reports cover signatures, a reporter’s cellphone number, the serial number of the officer’s gun and McDonald’s address. PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, was found in McDonald’s system, according to Alvarez and the medical examiner’s report that included with the documents.
