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.
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At a news conference in front of police headquarters, Richard Wooten said the group also wants the department to rescind recent promotions because “we can no longer trust” Mayor Rahm Emanuel and interim Police Superintendent John Escalante and others who run the department. “There is a system in place that has caused African American candidates not to be able to proceed to become part of this wonderful department”.
Garry McCarthy, the former police commissioner of Chicago, was removed from his job in the wake of the video’s release amid complaints that the city took too long to conduct its probe.
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the embattled Chicago Police Department. They also did not respond to questions about whether Emanuel was accompanied by a private attorney, or whether federal officials requested specific documents from the mayor.
Community outreach is a key feature of the probe.
Last week, Gupta declined to predict the duration of the investigation. The Justice Department will scrutinize Chicago police from top to bottom as agents try to determine whether there’s something systemic in how the department works that leads to violations of citizens’ constitutional rights.
The investigation comes first, followed by a publicly released report.
Emanuel’s administration fought in court for months against the release of the video. 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. President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff said Wednesday that the federal investigation, to which he was initially cool, will bring a “fresh set of eyes” on persistent allegations of police misconduct.
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Emanuel is slated to meet Thursday with the Department of Justice, which is investigating the shooting. 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.
