On Monday in Cleveland, Ohio, after more than a year, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty announced that a grand jury did not indict two Cleveland police officers for the November 2014 fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had only a pellet gun on him in a park when the officers immediately shot the child within two seconds of pulling up on the scene.
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The week began with the city of Chicago in mourning after police there “accidentally” shot and killed 55-year-old Bettie Jones on December 27, an unarmed downstairs neighbor who had just opened the door to let in officers responding to a domestic disturbance call.
The Chicago Police Department, already the subject of a federal civil rights investigation over its use of deadly force and other issues, has admitted the woman’s death was an accident.
As it scrambles to regain public trust shattered by the video of a black 17-year-old being shot 16 times by a white officer, the Chicago Police Department released crime statistics Friday that reveal a drop in some major crimes in the city but a significant increase in the number of homicides and shootings.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago police have been under heavy scrutiny since the city, under court order, released a squad auto video last month showing Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014.
Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty.
Emanuel’s administration has been emerged in controversy after the release of dashcam footage of the shooting ignited weeks of protests. The police have stated that Jones’ shooting was accidental.
The release of those emails comes one day after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced changes in how the Chicago Police Department will operate.
“This is a deeply disturbing incident that demands a very deliberate and meticulous independent investigation”.
Though the Independent Police Review Authority, or IPRA, is supposed to maintain a distance from police and the mayor’s office, a March 11 email from Ando inquires about forwarding witness interview transcripts to the law department “for their use in settlement negotiations with” the McDonald family. Out of those 23 cases, only two resulted in criminal charges as of the time of the email, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
Ted Pearson, one of the leaders of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, noted that Emanuel made leadership changes after the release of the McDonald video and gave a speech before the City Council in which he apologized, appearing at times to be near tears. The emails, including some between city officials asking how they should respond to demands for the video, were released to media outlets that have been pressing for the documents for weeks.
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The officers had said they stopped Pinex because his vehicle matched a description they heard on their police radio of a auto suspected of involvement in an earlier shooting.
