Chicago Police Superintendant Eddie Johnson plans to recommend termination for seven officers who filed false reports after the 2014 shooting, claiming Officer Jason Van Dyke acted in self-defense – official accounts that starkly conflicted with video evidence from the scene that showed the teen running away from, not toward, the cop.
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The department said it was accepting the recommendations of the inspector general to sack seven of the officers.
The decision by Superintendent Eddie Johnson, announced today by a Police Department spokesman, comes almost two years after Officer Jason Van Dyke fired 16 shots at McDonald, who was 17 and black.
A spokeswoman for the inspector general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The department and outside counsel reviewed reports from the 2014 shooting and found that the seven officers broke Rule 14: “Officers shall not give false information”. McNaughton had signed off on the story of the shooter, Jason Van Dyke, story that he feared for his life when he shot McDonald. Before horrifying video of the shooting was released, the City of Chicago spent ample time and money suppressing the footage. He has been suspended without pay, a Chicago Police Department spokesperson told ABC News.
Separately, a special prosecutor is investigating whether the officers lied to justify the shooting death of McDonald and will decide whether to bring criminal charges.
However, the final decision will be handed down by a police oversight board appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “As I have said before, with every decision that I make, I always keep in mind the tremendous sacrifice, bravery and commitment of every officer”.
Multiple officers wrote that even after McDonald had been shot he still posed a threat. “McDonald fell to the ground but continued to move and continued to grasp the knife, refusing to let go of it”.
But the video belies those accounts. After one or two shots, McDonald collapses, barely moving except for slight twitches as bullets pummel his body.
The reports of the 10 officers appeared to contradict what can be seen on the video.
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The city’s inspector general had recommended the firing of all 10 officers, but two of them have since retired and Johnson disagreed with the recommendation to fire a third.
