Carson, though, stopped short of calling for Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to step down.
Advertisement
CHICAGO (AP) – The family of a black teenager shot 16 times by a white Chicago police officer stepped forward Friday, weeks after a video of the 2014 killing set off days of protests, calls for the mayor’s resignation and demands for an overhaul of the police department.
Carson, after meeting with religious leaders at a Near North hotel, did not directly contend the release of a video of the shooting more than a year after the incident was the result of a cover-up.
A member of McDonald’s family was expected to speak at a news conference at 11:15 a.m. local time (1215 ET). Pastor Marvin Hunter says McDonald’s family will thank the public for demanding justice and change.
However, if NBC Chicago’s reporting has indeed uncovered the first evidence that Emanuel’s office was aware that the story his police department was pushing was dishonest, the news will bolster calls for the mayor’s resignation. McDonald was shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke in October of 2014.
A small but boisterous crowd demonstrating against police misconduct protested Friday during rush hour traffic in Chicago.
“What we’re feeling in Chicago is the real feeling of America in itself, and that is injustice towards people of color and poor people in this country”, he said, adding that the “only way to keep things like what has happened to Laquan from happening is we must have the proper resources for economic development, for housing, for health care, for mental health”.
Alvarez has pushed back on her critics, saying her office “conducted a meticulous and thorough investigation to build the strongest possible first-degree murder case against Officer Van Dyke”.
McDonald family attorney Jeff Neslund warned the city in a letter to the Corporation Counsel’s office on March 6th of this year: “This case will undoubtedly bring a microscope of national attention to the shooting” and “the City’s pattern, practice and procedures”.
Police stripped Van Dyke of his police powers after the shooting and put him on paid desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
“I think that’s a decision for the people here in Chicago”. The video shows six officers – several of whom appear to be black – entering Coleman’s cell. Emanuel apologized this week.
Yesterday Breanna Champion Chicago co-chair, Black Youth Project, was interviewed by MSNBC, where she said, “getting Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign is definitely not the main goal of the movement right now”.
Advertisement
Prosecutors chose to charge Van Dyke because he was not facing an immediate threat from McDonald, and because he continued to fire at the teen as he lay on the ground after being shot. But protests have included calls for his resignation.
