In a Thanksgiving message on Facebook, the president paid tribute to Chicago protesters for keeping the peace.
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Reporter: Tonight, our first look at a revealing new video that shows 17-year-old laquan McDonald, moments before he was shot.
The small crowd gathered Wednesday evening with chants of “indict, convict, send that killer cop to jail”.
The problem starts in the mayor’s office; implicates the police department’s top brass, the police union and rank-and-file officers; and runs through the city’s nominally independent police review authority, which routinely dismisses allegations of police wrongdoing. City officials released squad-car video of the incident.
The officer’s lawyer said he feared for his life but prosecutors said there was no justification for his actions. He said the case needs to be tried in a courtroom, “not in the streets or in the media”. This year, it agreed to reparations for black residents who said a group of officers had abused and tortured them in the 1970s and ’80s.
Chicago has seen muted reaction thus far to such incidents, even though police shootings there have been more frequent on average than in the bigger cities of NY and Los Angeles.
The video was released Tuesday hours after the officer was charged with first-degree murder.
Obama said in a statement Wednesday night he was “deeply disturbed” by the video footage.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson says officers involved should be fired or at least suspended.
(AP Photo/Paul Beaty). Chicago police officers struggle with protestors on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, in Chicago.
As they anticipated, the video footage prompted demonstrations in Chicago.
Chicago has many fine officers who do tough jobs. “Sometimes we have technical difficulties”, McCarthy said.
“People have the right to be angry”. Judge Peggy Chiampas said the state’s attorney’s office recommended that the charge be dropped and told London he was free to go. Among them was the typically swamped Apple store, where dozens of employees in red shirts stood in an otherwise empty two-story space and watched through store windows as protesters linked arms to stop anyone from entering. Protesters also planned to target the Board of Trade and other landmarks in the coming days, he said. They also want the Department of Justice to investigate.
The four protestors arrested Wednesday are all charged with misdemeanor crimes ranging from battery to resisting arrest.
A 38-year-old man from Murrieta, California, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanors for carrying a stun gun and a knife.
Police have said the teen had a knife.
Footage from the dash-cam video was released more than a year after the October 2014 shooting.
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services’ records show that Laquan McDonald was a ward of the state when he died, having spent years being shuttled between different relatives’ homes and foster care from the time he was 3.
The officer was treated for injuries that weren’t life-threatening and released. Another bond hearing is scheduled for Monday.
The demonstrations, which at times blocked some of Chicago’s busy Interstate highways, were largely peaceful, some turned confrontational during the night.
The video released Tuesday shows McDonald running, then walking on a street. There have been isolated clashes between police and protesters, with about 10 arrests and only a few minor reports of property damage.
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McDonald, whose name demonstrators are shouting as they march the streets and plan to shut down the city¿s glitziest shopping corridor on Friday, lived a troubled life full of disadvantages and at least one previous brush with the law. The city also released a graphic dashboard video of McDonald being shot 16 times in 15 seconds.
