Earlier in the day Emanuel stood before the city council and accepted responsibility for his handling of the shooting, offering an emotional apology. Emanuel has been under fire for a police brutality scandal that has rocked his administration, and Chicago Democratic Representative LaShawn Ford says he wants to amend state law to pave the way for voters to recall the Chicago Mayor.
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The Justice Department investigation was to look into patterns of racial disparity in the use of force.
The Department of Justice is investigating the circumstances of the shooting, together with the police department as a whole. Instead they took him to the fifth district police station, leading to his abuse and eventual death.
The mayor also spoke of residents’ mistrust of Chicago police, saying it’s unacceptable that there are parents in Chicago who feel they must warn their children to be wary of officers.
Dashcam video showing the police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, which eventually led to a first degree murder charge against Officer Jason Van Dyke, was withheld from the public and only released following a court order. Emanuel was forced to write an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune denying accusations he ordered the video held from public view until after he won a tough reelection race in April.
Mayor Emanuel had not responded to an interview request from The Independent at time of publication.
They had barely begun marching down Dearborn Street when young demonstrator Lamon Reccord, noted in part for staring down police officers tasked with supervising marches, began running down the street with several officers chasing him.
Emanuel gave a speech Wednesday apologizing for McDonald’s death and promising to make it right, after which protesters filled the streets of the city.
This story has been corrected to show the name of the new head of the Independent Police Review Authority is Sharon Fairley, not Fairly.
No vindictive statement from Obama, who had Emanuel on his White House staff before Emanuel ran for mayor.
It contributed to Garry McCarthy losing his job as Chicago’s police superintendent and spurred calls for Emanuel to resign.
The attorney for the Johnson family, Michael Oppenheimer, said the prosecutors’ investigation was a “joke” and an affront to Johnson’s family and Cook County citizens.
Emanuel also said the city would stop fighting the release of a second video that showed a police officer shooting a man in the back.
While a police review board found the officers’ actions justified, Emanuel said Monday that he didn’t see how the treatment of Coleman “could possibly be acceptable”.
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But David Beltran, a Chicago musician, jumped in with the idea to turn the fake Facebook event – something Brown admits she creates quite often – into an actual planned protest. He also laid out what needs to change to foster trust and respect between police officers and the city’s minority communities.
