The mayor said last month after the video was released Van Dyke violated the professional standards of a police officer and the “basic moral standards” that hold the Chicago community together.
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“We don’t think we could get a fair trial in the County of Cook…We have the police, policing the police”, McDonald’s great-uncle Marvin Hunter said.
A handful of protesters swarmed Van Dyke as he exited the Leighton Criminal Court Building, repeatedly chanting, “16 times and a cover-up” for the number of shots that struck and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
The case has created a firestorm after the release last month of a dash-cam video showing Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times within seconds of stepping out of his police vehicle as the black teen moved away from the white officer. He faces six counts of first-degree murder and one of official misconduct in the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The judicial judge agreed to be scheduled his arraignment for December 29.
Van Dyke was indicted by a grand jury earlier this week.
The seven-count indictment against Van Dyke came as no surprise to his attorney, Daniel Herbert, who said he’s still weighing whether to request a change of venue based on the massive amount of pretrial publicity, much of which he believes has come from City Hall. Prosecutors said Van Dyke fired 16 shots in 14 to 15 seconds, and for all but one of two of those seconds, McDonald was already lying wounded on the pavement on October 20, 2014.
Van Dyke, 37, was released from the Cook County Jail on November 30 after posting a $150,000 bond, 10 percent of a $1.5 million bail.
The Department of Justice is setting up a hotline and email service for people to report possible misconduct from Chicago police.
A U.S. Department of Justice statement says members of the public are encouraged to call or email to share “information relevant to the investigation”.
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“The investigation is focused on CPD’s use of force, including racial, ethnic or other disparities in its use of force, and CPD’s accountability systems including how CPD conducts internal investigations, responds to citizen complaints and handles officer discipline”, the department’s notice read.
