Chicago cop charged with murder in teen's death; video released

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Officer charged with murder in teen's death; video released
By DON BABWIN and JASON KEYSER

CHICAGO (AP) — A white Chicago police officer who shot a black teenager 16 times last year was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday, hours before the city released a video of the killing that many people fear could spark unrest.

City officials and community leaders have been bracing for the release of the dash-cam video, fearing the kind of turmoil that occurred in cities such as Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, after young black men were slain by police or died in police custody.

A judge ordered that the recording be made public by Wednesday. Moments before the footage was released Tuesday evening, the mayor and the police chief appealed for calm.

"People have a right to be angry. People have a right to protest. People have a right to free speech. But they do not have a right to ... criminal acts," Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said.

The relevant portion of the video runs for less than 40 seconds and has no audio.

Laquan McDonald, 17, swings into view on a four-lane street where police vehicles are stopped in the middle of the roadway. As he jogs down the street, he appears to pull up his pants and then slows to a brisk walk, veering away from two officers who are emerging from a vehicle and drawing their guns.

Almost immediately, one of the officers appears to fire from close range. McDonald spins around and crumples to the pavement. The second officer simultaneously lowers his weapon.

The car with the camera continues to roll forward until the officers are out of the frame. Then McDonald can be seen lying on the ground, moving occasionally. At least two small puffs of smoke are seen coming off his body as the officer continues firing.

In the final moments, an officer kicks something out of McDonald's hands.

Police have said the teen had a knife. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said Tuesday that a 3-inch knife with its blade folded into the handle was recovered from the scene.

Shortly after the video's release, protesters began marching through streets. Several hundred people blocked traffic on the near West Side. Some circled police cars in an intersection and chanted "16 shots."

"I'm so hurt and so angry," said Jedidiah Brown, a South Side activist and pastor who had just seen the video. "I can feel pain through my body."

Protesters were accompanied by many police officers, and no violence was immediately reported.

City officials spent months arguing that the footage could not be made public until the conclusion of several investigations. After the judge's order, the investigations were quickly wrapped up and a charge announced.

Alvarez defended the 13 months it took to charge officer Jason Van Dyke. She said cases involving police present "highly complex" legal issues and that she would rather take the time to get it right than "rush to judgment."

Alvarez said concern about the impending release prompted her to move up the announcement of the murder charge.

"It is graphic. It is violent. It is chilling," she said. "To watch a 17-year-old young man die in such a violent manner is deeply disturbing. I have absolutely no doubt that this video will tear at the hearts of all Chicagoans."

But she insisted that she made a decision "weeks ago" to charge Van Dyke and the video's ordered release did not influence that.

Some community leaders said there was no doubt that Alvarez only brought charges because of the order to release the video from Oct. 20, 2014.

"This is a panicky reaction to an institutional crisis within the criminal-justice system," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who said he hoped to see "massive" but peaceful demonstrations.

Months after McDonald's death, the city agreed to a $5 million settlement with his family, even before relatives filed a lawsuit.

The city's hurried attempts to defuse tensions also included a community meeting, official statements of outrage at the officer's conduct and an abrupt announcement Monday night that another officer who has been the subject of protests for months might now be fired.

"You had this tape for a year, and you are only talking to us now because you need our help keeping things calm," the Rev. Corey Brooks said of Monday night's community gathering with the mayor.

An autopsy report showed that McDonald was shot at least twice in his back and PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, was found in his system.

At the time of his death, police were responding to complaints about someone breaking into cars and stealing radios.

Van Dyke, who was denied bond on Tuesday, was the only officer of the several who were on the scene to open fire. Alvarez said the officer emptied his 9 mm pistol of all 16 rounds and that he was on the scene for just 30 seconds before he started shooting. She said he opened fire just six seconds after getting out of his vehicle and kept firing even though McDonald dropped to the ground after the initial shots.

At Tuesday's hearing, Assistant State's Attorney Bill Delaney said the shooting lasted 14 or 15 seconds and that McDonald was on the ground for 13 of those seconds.

Van Dyke's attorney, Dan Herbert, maintains his client feared for his life and acted lawfully and that the video does not tell the whole story. Van Dyke, stripped of his police powers, has been assigned to desk duty since the shooting.

Herbert said the case needs to be tried in a courtroom and "can't be tried in the streets, can't be tried on social media and can't be tried on Facebook."

Chicago police also moved late Monday to discipline a second officer who shot and killed an unarmed black woman in 2012 in another incident that caused tensions between the department and minority communities.

McCarthy recommended firing officer Dante Servin for the shooting of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd, saying Servin showed "incredibly poor judgment." A judge acquitted Servin of involuntary manslaughter and other charges last April.
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Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen and Michael Tarm contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-11-25

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Chicago protests mark release of fatal shooting video



CHICAGO: -- The long delayed release of a video showing last year’s police shooting of a black teenager has been marked by protests in Chicago.

The police union had opposed handing over the video claiming it would taint any trial but a judge over ruled them.

The graphic footage taken from a dashcam shows 17 year-old Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times.

WARNING: This video contains graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised.

Officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder.

Police say McDonald had refused to drop a knife and that Van Dyke had feared for his life.

The judge said with the release of the video timed with the murder indictment that she hoped the citizens of Chicago would know that an officer is being held responsible for his actions.

McDonald’s death in October 2014 came at a time of intense national debate over police use of deadly force, especially against minorities. A number of US cities have seen protests over police violence in the past 18 months, some of them fuelled by video of the deaths.

The uproar was a factor in the rise of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ civil rights movement and has become an issue in the 2016 US presidential election campaign.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-11-25

[oneday]

After watching that video, I have to agree 100% with the charge of murder. That man was in no way threatening, not with a knife and the distance between them. The excessive amount of shots are systematic of a cop with severe psychological problems, IMO.

[Publicus]

Another instance of the rightwing racial police officer who is the law unto himself in dealing with a certain type of minor incidents of public safety.

This is another instance of a racist rightwing cop who undoubtedly votes Republican party and who took a minor incident involving a minority youth to explode it into another case of murder. Murder One. Murder in the First Degree. We recently have come to know the reality that too many psychotic people become or remain as police officers.

The murder occurred a year ago. That's right at the time of a new public focus against the massive nationwide police crime wave targeting unarmed black young men in particular, but black males of all ages across the country.

If many legit police officers across the country have now become gun shy, then they'd need to take professional aim at the sociopath racist gangster cops loose on the streets of US cities and counties.

There is also the problem of the pussy police patrol cop such as the one in Cleveland. That frail wimp cop did the quick draw immediately on arriving at a park to shoot to death a 12 year old black boy playing alone with a toy gun. The child lay there six minutes bleeding without the two cops or other cops providing any assistance. (Only an FBI agent began administering first aid immediately on his arrival. Alone. Only he.)

The silent majority of police that are the vast number of professional police in the USA have to begin to seriously address this issue of a long below the radar nationwide police criminal assault campaign against black males by racist rightwing gangster police with a few wimp cops thrown into the mix.

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[Seastallion]

From the video, and the report that 16 shots were fired into the boy, the cop needs to get life or the electric chair. Inexcusable murder. An angry man pumping 16 shots into his wife's lover is a crime of passion. A guy shooting an attacker is self-defence. What the cop did was cold-blooded murder.

The sad and irrational thing is, there are people that will find that the folded penknife was reason enough to shoot the boy 16 times. There are people that will talk about gang bangers and that they get what was coming.

Cue the Trump supporters.