Superintendent Eddie Johnson’s decision was announced on Thursday almost two years after Officer Jason Van Dyke fired 16 shots at Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old African-American, in October of 2014.
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After the Department of Justice released its report on the City of Baltimore’s police department, proving that the civil rights of citizens were routinely violated, other police departments are starting to clean house. But police protocol indicates that all the cruisers should have been recording audio that night.
Chicago’s police superintendent recommended that seven police officers be fired for the filing of false reports after the shooting death of LaQuan McDonald in 2014.
The move by Johnson comes after Inspector General Joseph Ferguson issued his report, commissioned by the Independent Police Review Board, which reportedly recommended ten officers be fired for their roles in the Laquan McDonald case.
Johnson’s announcement came days after his department received the inspector general’s report and the recommendation will now go to the Chicago Police Board for a final decision, the New York Times reports.
“The superintendent did not name any of the officers he is seeking to fire, but many of them were patrol officers at the scene of the shooting”. McDonald did have a knife, but the footage clearly shows him walking away from Van Dyke when the officer opened fire. Two of the officers cited in the report have since retired. “Each officer will have their right to due process”, Johnson wrote in an email to officers, according to the Tribune.
The inspector general’s report centered on the actions of 10 officers.
Police dashboard-camera footage showing the fatal exchange between the police officer and McDonald caused national protests after the police department released it last November.
Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced the recommendations in a statement Thursday. “He gets the crisis that we are in and how to solve it”, said Jedidiah Brown, a leader of a group called Chicago Life.
More than 12 months later, the Chicago police accountability task force found that the teenager had posed “no immediate threat to anyone”. The unidentified officers will also have a chance to contest their firings before Chicago’s Police Board.
Van Dyke’s partner, Walsh, said McDonald continued to advance on them, ignoring commands to drop a knife in his hand.
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The department disagreed that a 10th officer should be fired and “feels that there is insufficient evidence to prove those respective allegations”, Guglielmi said. He is awaiting trial on murder charges and has been suspended without pay.
