You’ve seen it for yourself. Perhaps you wish you hadn’t.
You’ve seen it for yourself. Perhaps you wish you hadn’t.
The dash-cam video shows Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke leaping from his police SUV and opening fire on Laquan McDonald, 17, who is walking away briskly.
Van Dyke keeps shooting until his gun is empty, 16 shots in less than 15 seconds. For 13 of those seconds, McDonald lies crumpled in the street, mortally wounded.
The video does not show McDonald swinging the knife at Van Dyke and his partner in an “aggressive, exaggerated manner.”
It doesn’t show the cop backing off and McDonald advancing, raising the knife “across his chest and over his shoulder, pointing the knife at Van Dyke.”
It doesn’t show McDonald “attempting to get up, still holding knife, pointing at VD.”
That’s what other police officers at the scene say they witnessed the night of Oct. 20, 2014.
Yet, not one of those officers fired a shot.
Within hours, police supervisors made a preliminary finding that the shooting was justified. The department’s official ruling, weeks later, was the same.
“Criminal attacked officer,” says the report. “That officer killed criminal.”
The report and the video were forwarded to the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates all shootings involving police. Van Dyke was placed on paid desk duty in the meantime.
He remained on the public payroll until Nov. 24, when prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder, hours before the video was made public.
The Police Department’s report says investigators watched the video and found it consistent with the officers’ statements.
The images captured by the dash cam do not match the events described by the officers. Not even close.
The police union president’s explanation is that the video “does not show what the officers on the scene were able to see.”
FOP President Dean Angelo Sr. would have you think that from another angle, McDonald can be seen menacing the officers with a knife instead of walking hurriedly away from them. From another angle, he’s struggling to his feet, knife raised, instead of writhing on the ground and falling still.
No way.
The video is so damning that Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s top attorney negotiated a $5 million settlement with McDonald’s relatives before they even filed a lawsuit.
The city fought hard to keep the public from seeing it, until a judge ordered it released.
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez hurried to charge Van Dyke with first-degree murder before the video was made public.
A federal grand jury is investigating broader charges, including possible obstruction of justice by officers at the scene, sources told the Tribune.
Alvarez pointed to that investigation to explain why it took her 13 months to charge the cop with murder.
Van Dyke was drawing a paycheck the whole time. If you think that’s an outrage, consider this: The other officers are still on the street.
On Sunday, Justice Department officials confirmed the department will launch a civil rights investigation into the Chicago police. That’s welcome. As is every layer of scrutiny to come.
— Chicago Tribune