Chicago Police have released the complete police report documenting the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald on October 20, 2014. Van Dyke, who shot McDonald 16 times, was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015. The police reports are blacked out in places, with those redactions covering signatures, a reporters cell phone number, the serial number of the officers gun and McDonalds address.
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In a subsequent interview, Van Dyke told investigators that he was aware at the time he fired at McDonald that the teen had punctured the tire of a police vehicle moments before.
Van Dyke was charged with murder the same day the video was released even though more than a year had passed since the shooting.
With the video as a backdrop, the reports offer a way to examine what Van Dyke and his colleagues say happened.
USA Today reports Officer Joseph Walsh, Van Dyke’s partner, said the teen “swung the knife toward the officers in an aggressive manner” as McDonald got closer to the officers.
The report goes on to state that Van Dyke believed McDonald was attacking him with a knife and attempting to kill the officer.
While the highly controversial tape shows an unarmed McDonald stumbling away from police officers, the report published Friday reportedly suggests he was moving toward the officers while wielding a knife.
Van Dyke told an investigator he feared McDonald would rush him with the knife or launch it at him. The reports included a copy of the warning issued by an unidentified “Midwest intelligence organization” that was circulated to officers. City officials fought in court for months to keep the video out of the public’s eye, before deciding in November not to fight a judge’s order.
Police misconduct has been a recurring theme in Emanuel’s tenure as mayor of Chicago.
The city of Chicago has responded as well, paying the McDonald family a $5 million settlement even before a wrongful death lawsuit was filed.
In one report, Van Dyke is quoted as saying that from his training he knew that an assailant with a knife posed a deadly threat, possibly hurling the weapon at the officer. Angelo says the video does not tell the whole story.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said its in-house experts also determined the audio is not authentic. The authority, which did not return a message left Friday, has not released its report on the McDonald shooting. Release of the video has led to a torrent of protest and criticism over the way Emanuel and his police department handled the investigation into the shooting.
The release of the video has sparked peaceful protest in the city amid calls from activists for the resignations of Emanuel and State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, was found in McDonald’s system, according to Alvarez and the medical examiner’s report that was among the documents.
One of the reports noted what it called McDonald’s “irrational behavior”, such as ignoring verbal directions and “growling” and making noises.
In both McDonald’s case and the Lopez case, questions have been raised about the validity of the police reports. Protesters also claim that police and prosecutors tried to cover up McDonald’s death by deleting 86-minutes of video footage from a nearby Burger King security camera. But, in another contradiction, one of the police reports said the recovered knife’s “blade was in the open position”.
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Officer Ricardo Viramontes said he saw McDonald “turned toward Van Dyke and his partner”.
