The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Chicago police have made a habit of violating the law or the U.S. Constitution in their policing, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday.
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“Now, as our independent police review authority resumes its investigation to determine whether the shooting was consistent with CPD’s police, we must also ask ourselves if the existing policies on the use of deadly force are the right ones and if the training we provide to officers to make split-second decisions in life or death situations is sufficient”.
Lynch’s announcement came after nearly two weeks of protests in Chicago following the release of a 2014 police squad auto dashboard video showing police officer Jason Van Dyke emptying his gun into 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, shooting him 16 times.
“Our goal in this investigation, as in all of our pattern-or-practice investigations, is not to focus on individuals, but to improve systems”, Ms. Lynch said.
“When suspicion and hostility is allowed to fester, it can erupt into unrest”, Lynch said Monday morning.
If unconstitutional practices are found, the Justice Department will seek court-enforced reforms of the police force, she said.
Emanuel initially said a federal civil rights investigation would be “misguided”, but then later reversed course.
Days before Madigan, Alvarez and Emanuel could be heard calling for a federal investigation into the police department, West Side community leaders had taken to bullhorns and mobile audio systems to demand more specific federal probes into the McDonald case and into the handling of the case by the mayor and Alvarez. The previous head resigned Sunday. Ando will be replaced by Sharon Fairley, general counsel and first deputy of the city’s Office of the Inspector General and a former assistant US attorney.
“I promise you I bring no agenda other than the pursuit of integrity and transparency in the work that IPRA does”, Fairley said. Prosecutors have not said if they will charge Officer George Hernandez in the shooting. The second shot severed his jugular vein and exited through his eye socket, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Alvarez said Johnson struggled with two officers who responded to the scene, and knocked one of the officers to the ground, and ran away again. Emanuel has said the city would release video this week of Johnson’s shooting.
Prosecutors showed reporters an image with a red-colored circle around Johnson’s hand, saying that forensic experts clarified images of a weapon.
Police said they recovered a gun near Johnson after he was shot.
“We want [Chicago Police] Superintendent Garry McCarthy to go right away”, said Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin (1), during a November 29 protest on Michigan Avenue. “I have pretty much opened the door here”.
Attorney Michael Oppenheimer, who represents Johnson’s mother, Dorothy Holmes, dismissed Alvarez’s presentation as an “infomercial”, said a witness was coerced into false testimony and said the investigation Alvarez relied on was incomplete and didn’t include comments from key witnesses – including Hernandez himself. Prosecutors have charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder.
The Chicago City Council signed off on a $5 million settlement with McDonald’s family even before the family filed a lawsuit, and city officials fought in court for months to keep the video from being released publicly.
There has also been some speculation that Mayor Rahm Emanuel may have had an interest in suppressing the video footage, since releasing it during his reelection campaign in April may have resulted in the loss of the mayor’s crucial African American share of the vote.
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In announcing McCarthy’s resignation, Emanuel said he had formed a five-person task force to oversee police accountability. Chief of Detectives John Escalante is named interim chief.
