Garry McCarthy and Independent Police Review Authority boss Scott Ando – two nationally respected lawmen – the mayor clearly meant to send a message that he’s taking reform seriously.
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People took to the streets to protest what they felt was an excessive use of force and dishonesty by the city and Van Dyke’s fellow officers, who initially accused McDonald of threatening officers.
Previous Justice Department investigations have highlighted problems like discriminatory policing aimed at minority communities, systemic failure to handle rape cases and patterns of troublesome pedestrian encounters. The manager told Chicago NBC/5 that officers entered the fast food eatery the night of the shooting and when they left, 86 minutes of video appeared to be missing.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has condemned Chicago Police officers for their treatment of Coleman, who was in custody after an officer used a stun gun to incapacitate him in 2012.
On the heels of the Laquan McDonald verdict which was reached at the end of November, another verdict was reached on Monday in a fatal Chicago shooting by a police officer.
The release of video showing McDonald’s death and murder charges against the officer sparked protests and calls for resignation of the mayor and the ousting of city’s top cop.
The handwritten statements all seem to agree that McDonald was a threat to officers, thereby justifying the shooting.
Officer Dora Fontaine told detectives McDonald, “raised his right arm toward Officer Van Dyke, as if attacking Van Dyke”, according to the reports. Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder November 24, more than a year after the killing and just hours before the release of the footage.
Yet the report states, “The recovered in-car camera video from beats 845R and 813R was viewed and found to be consistent with the accounts of all of the witnesses”.
With a federal investigation at hand, that’s a question each of those officers will surely have to answer.
Chicago police have not responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Police documents released with the video contend that Philip Coleman was combative in the cell and that he also fought with officers after being taken to a hospital, where an officer shocked him again with a Taser. “There are profound consequences for the rule of law, and for the countless law enforcement officers who strive to fulfill their duties with professionalism and integrity”.
If officers who backed Van Dyke’s version of events are found to have gotten their story straight, so to speak, they don’t deserve to keep their jobs. And Emanuel should consider embracing a key recommendation of that study with a clear statement that the Chicago Police Department’s code of silence will no longer be tolerated.
The Chicago Police Department is not a uniquely racist institution, Futterman says, it’s an institution embedded in a racist society.
The facts are that Johnson was at a party and left with three other men when their auto was hit by several bullets, including one that shattered a window. The mayor’s office announced late Sunday that the former head of that agency, Scott Ando, had resigned effective immediately.
US authorities will look at the department’s use of force, including deadly force, among other issues, Lynch said at a news briefing to announce the civil probe. A jury’s acquittal of the officers set off riots in 1992, leaving dozens dead and hundreds injured.
But last month, after a county judge ordered that the police video of the incident be released, a different view of events emerged. Holmes vowed that she won’t stop “until I get what I want for him, and that’s justice”.
When newly minted police Supt.
Emanuel tugged on the interim superintendent’s jacket, pulling Escalante away from the microphone and into his office.
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“I promise you I bring no agenda other than the pursuit of integrity and transparency in that work that IPRA does”, said Sharon Fairly, IPRA Chief Administrator.
