Prosecutors have not said if they will charge Officer George Hernandez in the shooting. Specifically, we will examine a number of issues related to the CPD’s use of force, including its use of deadly force; racial, ethnic and other disparities in its use of force; and its accountability mechanisms, such as its disciplinary actions and its handling of allegations of misconduct.
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Earlier Monday, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the US Department of Justice would launch a wide-ranging investigation into the practices of the Chicago Police Department, focusing on the department’s use of force and its accountability procedures.
The statement says Sharon Fairly, general counsel and first deputy of the city’s Office of the Inspector General, will take over Ando’s role.
Alvarez held a lengthy news conference Monday to announce the decision, going over details of the investigation, what police and witnesses said and playing a dashboard camera video that captured a portion of the incident.
Alvarez has been criticized for not filing charges long ago in the McDonald case, in which the video shows the teen veering away from officers when Van Dyke opens fire from close range.
The investigation comes amid rising tensions in the city following the release of a graphic police dashcam video of the October 20, 2014 incident that shows 17-year-old Laquan McDonald shot 16 times by a police officer.
Responding to questions about why Johnson was shot in the back, Alvarez said Johnson could have turned and fired at Hernandez or other officers, and that his gun was linked to a 2013 shooting.
The top US law enforcement official said federal officials would be inquiring “constitutional violations” in one of the country’s largest police departments.
The groups strenuously called for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign her position-something she defiantly said she would not do in remarks to reporters on Friday.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel welcomed the investigation, pledging the city’s full cooperation.
Despite the evidence in this probe, we will try to work with the local authorities, residents and officials to make sure the people of Chicago have the world class police department they deserve, said Lynch during a press conference in Washington. But the calls for the mayor to resign – something he said he will not do – have grown louder from protesters, including the voices of more than 200 people during a march Sunday.
On Monday, the US Department of Justice announced it is launching an investigation into the Chicago Police Department.
Jamal Green, a onetime supporter of Emanuel has now become a vocal critic and says the mayor has yet to answer why Officer Jason Van Dyke was not disciplined sooner, why the city fought against the video’s release and whether his campaign for re-election was the reason.
Van Dyke is white, and McDonald was black.
Holmes filed a federal lawsuit against Chicago police shortly after her son’s death, and the defendants filed a motion to block the video’s release.
The Justice Department said Monday that it will investigate Chicago’s police department after protests over the 2014 police shooting death of a black teenager.
“It is abhorrent and tragic that it took a judge to force the administration to release video capturing the killing of a young African-American man at the hands of a police officer to initiate the Department of Justice’s investigation”, Ald.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin says the investigation shouldn’t be viewed as a penalty but rather an opportunity to identify areas where Chicago police have “fallen short”. Political upheaval came quickly on the heels of Chicago’s demonstrations, with Emanuel asking for (and getting) Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy’s resignation. Mayor Emanuel made the footage available to the public yesterday.
“Officer Arturo Becerro said: “(I) saw (Laquan) in the middle of the street flailing arm, saw a knife in (his) hand, heard multiple shots, did not see who fired”.
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Johnson’s family and its attorney rejected Alvarez’s decision, calling it a “joke” and dismissing authorities’ assertions that Johnson was armed.
