Hernandez fired five shots, striking Johnson twice. “All of the lies, coverup, that’s still going on”, Oppenheimer said Thursday.
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“He did not comply with any of their commands”, she said.
In all, six police accounts don’t match the video.
Police tactics and racism have been the subject of an intense national debate since protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri in summer 2014 over the shooting death of another black teen, 18-year-old Michael Brown.
The move came in response to recent criticism about how police handled the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer. Emanuel ousted the head of IPRA over the weekend.
This item has been corrected to show that Hernandez is not the second officer to be charged. They have also called on city officials to release a dashcam video of the shooting.
She narrated the dash cam video made public Monday, describing how several officers chased Johnson after he was stopped in a residential neighborhood. Officers saw Johnson carrying a firearm in hand and told him to stop and drop his weapon, according to Ms. Alvarez.
Alvarez explained that Hernandez could have felt threatened even if Johnson was running away.
The release of the video, after a lengthy court battle, has thrown the city into turmoil.
The video’s release and the city’s handling of the case prompted nearly two weeks of protests in Chicago last month.
A citizen denied records under FOIA may challenge the decision in court.
It was the first time in 30 years that a Chicago police officer was charged with first degree murder for an on-duty fatality. It’s a question that Emanuel, who easily won another term in office in April, needs to answer.
The probe will be handled by the department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney General’s Office for the Northern District of IL.
The wide-ranging investigation will look into whether CPD has violated the constitution and possible patterns of abuse or excessive use of force. The probe comes after the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, 17, in October 2014. A Justice Department investigation of the Cleveland police force ended earlier this year in a sweeping settlement.
Justice Department officials say they use such patterns-and-practices investigations to identify systemic failings in troubled police departments and to improve trust between police and the communities they serve.
The department claimed McDonald, who was said to be under the influence of PCP, pointed a three-inch knife towards the police officers in an aggressive matter. The official is not authorized to speak about the announcement and would only speak to Associated Press reporter Don Babwin on condition of anonymity.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke (r.) leaves the Cook County Jail after posting bond November 30 in Chicago.
Similarly to his firing of police chief Garry McCarthy – who, in Emanuel’s words, was not ousted because of his performance but because public calls for his resignation had become “a distraction” – the mayor initially opposed a federal investigation.
On Monday, Emanuel talked up Fairley’s qualifications and said she would help “to reinvigorate an essential oversight body that we as a city rely on as it relates to oversight and accountability in the police department”.
The shooting was investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority, and was reviewed by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Hernandez was with two other officers getting out of an unmarked police vehicle when Johnson ran behind their auto. Lawyers for the family of slain 25-year-old Ronald Johnson III said the circumstances seen on the video are similar to those in the McDonald shooting.
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Johnson’s family filed a lawsuit seeking the release of the footage, reported the Chicago Tribune.
