The agency said last week that it would look at the police department’s use of force as well as accountability systems.
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The mayor’s support for the broader federal investigation into his Police Department is a turnabout after Emanuel earlier this month called such a probe “misguided”.
The Chicago Tribune reports Van Dyke has also been hit with a formal charge of misconduct after shooting 16 times at the 17-year-old victim when video seems to show he posed no direct threat to the officer or any of the other lawmen who had surrounded him. Unbeknownst to the public, police officers had visited a nearby Burger King whose security cameras had seemingly captured damning footage of the incident and, according to the manager, deleted it. Van Dyke wasn’t even named in the shooting, and the story caused only a small blip for the Chicago media.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the investigation on December 7 amid protests over the release of a video of the shooting of Laquan McDonald.
A group of retired black Chicago Police officers on Thursday called on the department to halt promotions and hiring until federal authorities complete an investigation launched after a video of the shooting death of black teenager Laquan McDonald was released. “It is in our self-interest as a city that they’re here”, Emanuel said of the probe. “As part of that process he will continue to engage with residents, police, and community leaders to address their specific concerns”.
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.
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Emanuel was scheduled to meet with Department of Justice officials Thursday. 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.
