According to the case files, at least five police officers who said they witnessed Officer Jason Van Dyke shoot 17-year-old McDonald on October 20, 2014, said they saw McDonald either waving his knife aggressively, approaching the officers, or both.
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Even more damning, minutes after Laquan was shot, several police officers entered a local Burger King just yards from where the teen fell, demanding to view the store’s surveillance video.
Not only was Laquan not waving a weapon, he had actually veered away from the police and posed no visible threat – before Van Dyke took it upon himself to empty his clip (shooting the victim 16 times), while a crowd of fellow officers watched but didn’t discharge their weapons. He said the crimes of a small number of officers shouldnt taint the whole police department, but that he should have known that a delay in releasing the video would raise suspicions because of its checkered history of misconduct.Emanuel fired Chicago Police Supt.
Carson suggested stepping up support to Jordan to care for refugees or resettling them in friendlier regions. The protesters claim that Alvarez and Emanuel covered up the case. Emanuel says he strongly rejects the idea the release of squad-car video of the shooting was delayed because of his re-election campaign. The U.S. attorney’s office is investigating the shooting, and a number of officials have called for the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division to open a wider investigation of the police department’s practices, similar to ones conducted in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere.
The city released more than 300 pages of police reports and other investigation documents late Friday pertaining to the case, including a December 2012 bulletin warning officers about a “revolver knife” and a reference to Van Dyke remembering the bulletin. Sixteen shots were fired at McDonald, prosecutors have said.
Van Dyke’s partner, Joseph Walsh, said in the report that McDonald got within 12 to 15 feet of his partner and swung the knife before he was shot.
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“I remember back in the late “80s and early ’90s about a shotgun affixed to the driver’s door”, said Dean Angelo, president of Chicago police officers” union.
The dashcam video of the shooting, however, shows a different side of the story. The owner of the accounts did not respond to requests for comment.
By City law, the Independent Police Review Authority conducts all investigations of the conduct Chicago police officers when they are involved in an officer-involved shooting.
The city has released information – including the video – in dribs and drabs, prolonging the scandal around McDonald’s shooting. If the criminal investigation concludes that any officer participated in any wrongdoing, we will take swift action. Jackson has reiterated his call for “a full, thorough investigation with subpoena power” and says it’s time to escalate the protests. PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, was found in McDonald’s system, according to Alvarez and the medical examiner’s report that was among the documents. Activists claim police and city officials tried to cover up the killing, refusing to release video for months.
McDonald was being chased by police after reports he was burglarizing vehicles. One report said McDonald showed “irrational behavior”, such as ignoring verbal directions, “growling” and making noises.
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The reports also note the 911 call after the shooting and radio transmissions from the scene “were consistent with the statements of the police officers”.
