On Tuesday, a grand jury formally indicted Van Dyke on six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct.
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The Chicago police officer accused of murder in the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald is expected to appear in Cook County criminal court. He wore a gray suit for the hearing before Cook County Circuit Judge James Brown, who set arraignment for December 29. While several officers who were at the scene when McDonald was shot reported he was aggressively swinging a knife at Van Dyke, video of the shooting shows the teen walking away from police when he was shot. He says Van Dyke will attend.
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The charges against Van Dyke come at a time of protests in cities around the country over cases of police killings of black men, often by white officers. Van Dyke, faces six counts of first degree murder and a count of official misconduct in the October 2014 shooting of McDonald, 17.
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The attention and requests have put the Police Department, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and prosecutors under intense pressure and has police officers wondering if they might soon be called to answer questions about shootings that were investigated and deemed justified.
Since the video’s release, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy resigned from his position and the Justice Department has launched a federal investigation into the incident.
At a news conference Thursday, the retired officers joined the ranks of those who have been voicing distrust of leaders including Mayor Rahm Emanuel since last month’s release of the video of the McDonald shooting.
MURDER/STRONG PROB KILL/INJURE WITH FIREARM: Van Dyke shot and killed McDonald without legal justification and while armed with a firearm, knowing that such an act created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to Laquan.
Defense attorney Dan Herbert says the noon hearing will be an opportunity for prosecutors to read the indictment.
Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression said, “We’re reaching out to all Chicago Alliance members and allies in the movement for community control of the police to join us at 3:00 p.m. on the northeast corner of State and Lake streets”.
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Community outreach is a key feature of the probe. The city is being sued over at least 24 other police shootings, while police investigators are being pushed to reopen dozens of additional cases that have been closed.
