Protests continue overnight in Chicago in response to fatal police shootings and officer accountability. Many residents, already suspicious that the circumstances of the shooting had been covered up by police, grew even more skeptical when the city released other squad auto dashcam videos from the scene that, like the first, lacked audio.
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Within hours of Emanuel’s emotional speech, a federal judge said he would not order the release of videos that captured a Chicago police officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Cedrick Chatman as he fled officers in January 2013.
Dozens of medical students from various Chicago student associations stage a “die in” outside the county building, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015, to protest the killing of Laquan McDonald by a police officer in Chicago.
Other Chicago black religious leaders on Friday called for a “no confidence vote” against Emanuel over his leadership.
“Laquan McDonald represents thousands of Laquan McDonalds; same black skin, same poverty, same social and economic injustices”, he said. A few activists with them wore T-shirts that read “Rahm Failed Us”.
McDonald’s mother was not in attendance because she’s “hurting and traumatized by the constant reminder and senseless death of her son”, Hunter said, referencing the video, which has been replayed on TV frequently.
Hunter said the family wishes to host a summit in Lawndale, and called on President Barack Obama to legitimize the summit – and Chicago’s policing problems – by sending a representative to the neighborhood.
But the anger did not subside, and every day there seemed to be another issue, including the release of hundreds of pages of documents that show police had described in their reports a far more threatening McDonald than the teen shown to the city and the world on video. The officer involved in the shooting, Jason Van Dyke, has since been charged with murder.
“I think that change is needed”.
Alvarez has defended the delay in bringing charges against Van Dyke, calling it a complex investigation. Emanuel apologized this week that the incident occurred under him administration.
On Tuesday, the new head of the review board said she was reopening the investigation into Coleman’s case.
“Having a 20-year reign of terror in the African-American community affected not only the men, but their families and the entire community”, said attorney Flint Taylor, who helped exonerate numerous victims. Protests and calls for the resignation of top city officials, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, have erupted since then.
Lynch said the investigation will review the departments’ use of force, deadly force and how it held those officers who used excessive force accountable.
Hunter said McDonald was raised by his great-grandmother and, despite a tough life, he was gentle, loving and fond of telling jokes. “And if we’re going to fix it I want you to understand it’s my responsibility with you”, Emanuel said. “He was a jokester”.
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Much of the most pointed criticism of Emanuel has centered on the idea that he may have suppressed the truth about McDonald’s death during the closing weeks of his contentious re-election campaign. He’s reported on the Chicago police department for years; he unearthed McDonald’s autopsy and has continued to pursue the story.
