“McDonald fell to the ground but continued to move and continued to grasp the knife, refusing to let go of it”.
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Van Dyke told an investigator that he feared that McDonald would rush him with the knife or launch it at him.
He also said the department had recently issued a bulletin, warning officers that there are knives that can shoot bullets. His death revived questions about the police treatment of minorities throughout the United States and energized the national Black Lives Matter movement.
Johnson’s family has been pushing for the release of the video for 14 months, Oppenheimer tells ABC News, calling Emanuel’s decision “the first step for justice”. The city’s early efforts coincided with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election campaign, when he was seeking African-American votes.
The five-member panel will recommend reforms to improve independent oversight of police misconduct, ensure officers with repeated complaints are evaluated and establish a process for release of videos of police-involved incidents, Emanuel said.
Then, this Thursday, at an unrelated press conference, Emanuel was asked about the video and he said, “Yeah, we will do that next week”, according to the Chicago Tribune.
– Cincinnati: Media organizations sued Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutor Joseph Deters after he refused to release body-camera video from the fatal shooting of a black motorist in a traffic stop by a white University of Cincinnati officer in July.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was sacked and Escalante has taken over in the interim.
– Charleston, South Carolina: In April, a bystander’s cellphone video prompted police in North Charleston, South Carolina, to release a dashcam video of white officer Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott, an unarmed black man. Slager has been charged with murder and is awaiting a trial date. The records include police video but not of the actual shooting. Herbert didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Chicago Tribune obtained hundreds of pages of police reports that differ dramatically with dash cam video of the shooting. The authority has not released its report on McDonald’s death.
“If the criminal investigation concludes that any officer participated in any wrongdoing, we will take swift action”, he said in an emailed statement. Police said a weapon was recovered. Emanuel said the footage was withheld from the public because it is an open investigation.
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has also come under fire over the McDonald case, and politicians and activists, including Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, are asking for her resignation. In some of the police reports, it’s not clear who the author is. The report shows Van Dyke’s partner backed up his account of what occurred.
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The report said Van Dyke was aware of the widely accepted teaching that an assailant armed with a knife was considered a deadly threat if within 21 feet. “VD continued firing. O appeared to be attempting to get up, still holding the knife, pointing at VD”.
