CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago police officer now faces first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, 17. He is being held without bail.
Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot the black teenager 16 times in October 2014. The shooting was recorded on a police dash cam video, which Chicago police are expected to release at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. ABC7 Chicago Eyewitness News received a version of the video earlier, but choose to use only a single image due to safety concerns.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez described the video after Van Dyke appeared in court.
"At 9:57:36, McDonald has crossed over the white lane divider away from the officers, and Officer Van Dyke has taken at least one step towards McDonald with his weapon drawn," Alvarez said. "The officer then opened fire on Laquan, whose arm jerks, his body spins around and he falls to the ground. While Laquan is falling to the ground the defendant takes at least one more step towards him, at which point the angle of the dash camera changes and we can no longer see the officer in the frame of the video. Two seconds later, Laquan McDonald is lying on the street on his right side, and the video captures what appears to be two puffs of smoke coming from the ground near his body. These puffs of smoke were later identified as clouds of debris caused by the fired bullets. At 9:57:51, McDonald is still lying on the street and the last visible shot is fired."
Alvarez said at this point, there is a pause as Van Dyke prepares to reload his gun. His partner tells him to hold fire and then walks over to McDonald and kicks away the teenager's knife.
Van Dyke acted "without legal justification and with the intent to kill or do great bodily harm, Jason D. Van Dyke personally discharged a firearm that proximately cause the death of LaQuan McDonald," according to court documents filed Tuesday.
"Of the eight officers on the scene, it was only the defendant who fired his weapon," Alvarez, who has come under fire for the handling of the investigation, said.
Van Dyke made no comment Tuesday morning, but his attorney spoke after the bond hearing. Defense attorney Dan Herbert cautions the public's rush to judgment after the video is released.
"The judgement made by individuals that view this tape from the comfort of their living room on their sofa, it's not the same standard as the perspective from my client. People viewing this video tape will have the brilliance and benefits of hindsight, 20/20 vision," Herbert said. "People will judge the split-second action of my client. However, the standard in this case is: what was my client experiencing at the time at which he made this split-second decision to fire, and that is the standard that is going to be utilized. And thankfully that will be the standard that will be utilized in court, and we fully anticipate that we will be successful in this case."
On October 20, 2014, Chicago police were responding to reports of car break-ins near 40th and Karlov when they came across McDonald. Officers said the teen, who was a ward of the state, was acting erratically and had a knife he refused to drop.
An autopsy determined McDonald was shot multiple times in the chest, the back of his arms and right leg. McDonald's family already received a $5 million settlement from the city in April 2015.
"This investigation was tenacious. It was meticulous," Alvarez said. "At the end of the day, I'd rather take my time and get it right than rush to judgment and get it wrong."
"We are standing by Officer Van Dyke in the performance of his duty at this stage. That is what we are elected to do," Dean Angelo, Fraternal Order of Police, said.
The timeline for the city to release the graphic dash cam video of the fatal shooting is Wednesday, according to a court order from Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama. The city is bracing for outrage as city and faith leaders call for calm and peaceful protests.
McDonald's family released a statement: We [the family of Laquan McDonald] deeply appreciate the outpouring of love and support for Laquan. This is a difficult time for us. As we have said in the past, while we would prefer that the video not be released we understand that a court has ordered otherwise. We ask for calm in Chicago. No one understands the anger more than us but if you choose to speak out, we urge you to be peaceful. Don't resort to violence in Laquan's name. Let his legacy be better than that.
Starting Tuesday, all on-duty Chicago police officers are required to wear their uniforms, but none of the planned vacation days had been canceled.
Van Dyke, who has been on desk duty since the investigation into the shooting began, is the first on-duty Chicago police officer to be charged with first-degree murder. He turned himself over to authorities on Tuesday morning and left his gun with his wife, officials said.
Then, of course, the video was released, leading to demonstrators taking to the streets of Chicago tonight.
Part two.
Chicago (CNN)Protesters took to the streets of Chicago late Tuesday after police released a graphic dash-cam video showing an officer shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
McDonald was killed in October 2014. The city's mayor has called for peace.
"I believe this is a moment that can build bridges of understanding rather than become a barrier of misunderstanding. I understand that the people will be upset and will want to protest when they see this video," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. "We as a city must rise to this moment."
Chicago has been preparing for protests in advance of the video's release, which was ordered by a judge to happen no later than Wednesday.
McDonald was a black teenager. The officer who shot him, Jason Van Dyke, is white.
He was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in McDonald's death and is being held without bond.
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy acknowledged that residents "have a right to be angry."
Soon after the video's release, a group of protesters began marching, chanting "16 shots" and "We got to fight back!" McDonald died after being shot 16 times.
The NAACP said that McDonald's family and the community deserve action.
"People have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest, people have a right to free speech," McCarthy said. "But they do not have a right to commit criminal acts."
And that's not even the whole story till now. Police officers, and possibly the department, are being accused of a cover-up in which 86 minutes of security video from a local Burger King that may have caught the shooting was edited by police after they asked to view it, and initial statements regarding how many times McDonald had been shot were outright lies, contradicted by the autopsy report. That last link also notes that this was all swept under the rug until a whistle-blower informed the press that dashcam video of the shooting existed.
In other words, the Chicago Police Department has now joined an infamous list that includes Ferguson, Baltimore, and the NYPD, only these guys seem to have been evern worse than all three of the rest combined. Not only was this shooting so blatantly unjustified that the City Council authorized a $5 million payout to the family before they even sued, but the cover-up by other officers shows that this isn't just one bad cop, but an entire department of cops (except for one anonymous whistle-blower) willing to break the law to cover for that bad cop. Now we can only hope that the justified anger of those in Chicago is not translated into violence and burning.
Thoughts?
