Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder.
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THE JUSTICE Department investigation of Chicago’s trigger-happy police department, announced Monday by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, is welcome. Two hours after Lynch’s briefing, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez gave a detailed presentation to reporters explaining why she would not seek charges in another 2014 police shooting death of a black man.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the city needs comprehensive solutions in the wake of the 2014 death of a black teenager who was shot 16 times by a white police officer.
Johnson was struck by the bullets and fell face down.
Alvarez said the weapon recovered from Johnson was linked to a 2013 unsolved shooting.
The McDonald video shows the teen veering away from officers on a four-lane street when Van Dyke, seconds after exiting his squad vehicle, opens fire from close range.
Chicago officials say the treatment of a detainee in police custody is under investigation as they release video showing an officer dragging the man through a hallway.
Since the release of the McDonald video, Emanuel forced Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign and formed a task force to examine the police department.
Politicians, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, have called for the federal civil rights investigation.
Oppenheimer also noted that one witness, a civilian known as “witness A”, who did speak to the State’s Attorney’s office, said in a sworn deposition that “the idea of a gun wasn’t really a thing until they (detectives) presented the idea to me, or the situation to me”. WGN-TV said there would be no charges in the shooting of Ronald Johnson, III, citing an unnamed prosecutor’s source. But even before the videotape was released, having grown up in the city of Chicago, I knew there were long-term issues of trust, accountability, use of force, and secrecy that have frayed the bonds between the CPD and the communities they are sworn to protect and serve. The investigations are typically called “pattern and practice” investigations from a federal law that bans “a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers” that deprives people of their constitutional rights.
She said they will look into whether police in the midwestern United States city “engaged in a pattern or practice of violations of the Constitution or federal law”.
Police documents released with the video contend that Philip Coleman was combative in the cell and that he also fought with officers after being taken to a hospital, where an officer shocked him again with a Taser.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel named Sharon Fairley as leader of the Independent Police Review Authority on Monday after the former leader resigned.
On the eve of his speech, Emanuel’s office helped push an announcement from his newly appointed head of the investigative agency, known as IPRA, that the investigation into Coleman’s case was being reopened.
Taking the lead in the investigation will be staff from the Justice’s Department’s civil rights division, aided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago. Video from that incident was shown to reporters Monday, as Emanuel promised last week. That further angered activists and protesters, who were already accusing the city of a cover up.
“We need comprehensive solutions to address the systematic challenges that exist in the Chicago Police Department”. “That doesn’t mean we’re absolved, and that’s why IPRA now has to start their investigation from the disciplinary action of the officers”.
Fairley said IPRA will reopen the Coleman case to see whether the officers were within department guidelines and whether policy changes are needed to avoid a similar incident.
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In 2007, the City Council did away with an internal Chicago Police Department oversight office, turning it into a separate city department with subpoena power and a chief administrator reporting directly to the mayor.
