A video of a 2014 Chicago police shooting of a black man will be released next week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Thursday after days of controversy over another fatal police shooting caught on tape. NBC 5’s Carol Marin reports.
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For more than a year, the city actively delayed releasing police dash-cam footage of white Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014 and continuing to fire as McDonald crumpled to the ground. And that “in defense of his life”, Van Dyke “backpedaled and fired his handgun at McDonald, to stop the attack”. At least one of the officers said in the report that the black teen advanced on the officers and swung his knife at them in an “aggressive, exaggerated manner” before he was shot and killed.
Not releasing the video, creates further distrust between police and the public. He was charged with first-degree murder late last month, only hours before the department released the video under a court order and after keeping it from the public for more than a year. “Van Dyke continued to fire his weapon at McDonald as McDonald was on the ground, as McDonald appeared to be attempting to get up, all the while continuing to point the knife at Van Dyke”.
All sides need to figure out the best policies “very quickly”, especially because police dashcams and body cameras will become more ubiquitous, says Samuel Walker, a retired criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “After this weekend, after effectively handling the protests that followed the release of the McDonald video and the arrest of [Laquan’s] killers, Superintendent McCarthy and I began a discussion on Sunday about the direction of the department and the undeniable fact that the public trust in the leadership of the department has been shaken”. Shortly after that, the city released a patrol vehicle video of the shooting. He also clarified that officer-involved shootings are not investigated internally, but rather are looked at by the Independent Police Review Authority. It’s not clear who wrote some of the police reports. Chicago police have said that Johnson, a known gang member, resisted arrest when officers responded to the call of shots fired and then ran.
The debate over the release of videos typically lines up around the U.S.as such: Police and prosecutors argue they should be withheld until investigations conclude, while transparency advocates, journalists and activists say the public has a right to see the footage immediately. And, he said, “this type of recording would not be possible from the in-car camera system” that Chicago police use.
Van Dyke’s partner, identified as Joseph Walsh, told an investigator that he repeatedly yelled “Drop the knife!” at McDonald and backed up as the teenager “continued to advance toward the officers”.
Walsh said McDonald attempted to get up after falling, “while still armed with the knife”.
When announcing charges against Van Dyke, Alvarez said McDonald’s knife, which had a 3-inch blade, was folded when recovered from the scene. “No one should be shielded by power or position”.
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Redactions in the police reports cover signatures, a reporter’s cellphone number, the serial number of the officer’s gun and McDonald’s address.
