As the city of Chicago grapples with the ongoing scandal surrounding the 2014 police shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and allegations of bad leadership within the police department and mayor’s office, city officials are plotting the course for expanded body camera deployments for the coming year. Officer Jason Van Dyke’s statements after the shooting paint Laquan McDonald as an out-of-control assailant who continued to pose a threat, even after being shot. At least one of the officers said in the report that the black teen advanced on the officers and swung his knife at them in an “aggressive, exaggerated manner” before he was shot and killed.
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But several officers, including Van Dyke, who is now charged with first degree murder, filed official reports after the incident describing McDonald as aggressively approaching officers while armed with a knife. O fell to ground, continued to move/grasp knife.
Sometimes, civilian cellphone video plays a role in prodding a city to release its own police video, as happened in North Charleston, South Carolina, earlier this year.
Messages left for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s spokeswoman, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’ spokeswoman and a police union weren’t immediately returned.
Chicago police says an independent police body conducts all investigations of officer-involved shootings. When the video continues at 10:39 p.m. after the shooting, “a police officer in a bulletproof vest is seen sitting at a desk in front of a computer monitor in the back of the restaurant”. It used the same argument in the McDonald case before a judge ordered the video’s release; Van Dyke was charged with murder the same day the video was made public.
Chicago officials fought in court for months to keep the McDonald video from being released.
In Seattle, nearly all police video is posted online almost immediately, though special software blurs the images and a video with clear images must be requested.
Though Sanders never mentions his name the comments appeared aimed at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a long-time ally of the Clinton family and former White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama.
“If the criminal investigation concludes that any officer participated in any wrongdoing, we will take swift action”, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
There’s no audio in any of the videos but a conversation between police officers reviewing the Dunkin’ Donuts footage was captured on the store’s surveillance video. Police said a weapon was recovered.
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 incident started when a man called 911 to report that a knife-wielding offender had threatened him and was attempting to break into vehicles in an Archer Heights trucking yard at 41st and Kildare. He said he eventually kicked the knife away from McDonald and then told the dying teenager “Hang in there” as an ambulance was called. “No one should be shielded by power or position”.
One of the reports noted what it called McDonald’s “irrational behavior”, such as ignoring verbal directions, “growling” and making noises.
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McDonald, the report states, was swinging the knife wildly. A medical examiner’s report said the hallucinogen PCP was found in his system.
