Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has fired the city’s police chief after a public outcry over the handling of the case of a black teenager shot 16 times by a white police officer. He said the creation of the task force was meant to rebuild trust in the police department of one of the country’s largest cities.
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Emanuel said Tuesday that he and the superintendent began talking about the McDonald case had “shaken” public trust in the police.
“Now is the time for fresh eyes and leadership”, Mr Emanuel said. He said the move had nothing to do with his 2015 campaign. “There are systematic challenges that will require sustained reforms”.
Through a spokesman, McCarthy declined to comment Tuesday to The Associated Press.
“I have a lot of support and confidence in the work that he has done”, he added.
The mayor credited McCarthy with modernizing the police force, getting illegal guns off the streets and pushing a community policing strategy that the mayor said had reduced overall crime rates to a record low. He was asked repeatedly why the video was not released last fall or early this year, while he was in a tough re-election fight; why he removed McCarthy and took other measures only after the uproar caused by the video’s release; and whether he was adequately shouldering responsibility for what had occurred. Then came the intense criticism of how the two handled the police shooting of 17-year-old McDonald.
While McDonald did ignore orders to drop a three-inch knife he carried while walking down a street in Chicago’s South Side, the grisly video showed he was walking away from the officers when Van Dyke opened fire, continuing to shoot him after he lay motionless on the ground.
Van Dyke shot McDonald along a stretch of Pulaski Road near 41st Street in October 2014. The city had refused to release the video until ordered to do so by a judge.
With it comes the departure of Emanuel’s only police superintendent since he took office in May 2011.
Emanuel, who also announced a newly created task force on police accountability, said Chief of Detectives John Escalante will oversee the police department until a permanent replacement is named.
“Somebody had to be accountable over all, and I think unfortunately it was becoming clear that the discussion on what to do with the department and how to resolve these long-term community-related issues we weren’t able to have those conversations under the current circumstance”. “And that’s, I think, where the mayor has gone”.
O’Connor also said Emanuel had hard shoals to navigate.
Protesters demanded McCarthy’s resignation citing concerns about rising homicides in the city.
Minutes after Emanuel announced he had asked for McCarthy’s resignation, mayoral ally Ald.
Alderman Howard Brookins Jr., a member of the black caucus, said he appreciated Emanuel’s “willingness to change course”.
“You could feel the momentum coming from all over the city”, Burnett said.
The announcement of McCarthy’s firing had many on social media wondering when Emanuel would get his comeuppance.
Protests followed the charging and arrest of Van Dyke and the release of the video on November 24.
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A 21-year-old University of IL at Chicago student, Jabari Dean, was charged with making the threat and is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Chicago federal court.
