Chicago officer charged with murder of black teen ahead of video release

A lawyer for the McDonald family stated the footage showed the 17-year-old moving away from the police officer. But she said the video becoming public wasn’t a factor in her decision to charge him with first-degree murder.

In Madison, Ala., after Indian grandfather Sureshbhai Patel was left partially paralyzed after a police officer threw him to the ground, the police department there fired the officer, Eric Parker, and the United States Attorney’s office has tried the officer twice on civil rights violations. He said this was one officer who violated “the highest professional standards” that thousands of Chicago police live up to every day.

Van Dyke was the subject of 18 civilian complaints over 14 years, including allegations that he used racial epithets and excessive force, police and court records show.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered throughout the Windy City to honor Laquan McDonald, a black teenager shot to death by a police officer previous year, and to protest against police violence.

Other experts who reviewed the video could not understand how Van Dyke could perceive the teenager as a threat.

All in less time than it took Chicago and Cook County to make an arrest. The officer, Jason Van Dyke, who was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday. A judge acquitted Servin of involuntary manslaughter and other charges last April, and Alvarez was accused of having not prosecuted the case properly.

After the shooting, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden arrived to tell reporters what had happened in the eyes of the officers he represents.

London, who was wearing a T-shirt with the phrase “Unapologetically black” on it, walked outside the courthouse to loud cheers. “We want justice for Laquan and we want justice for our people”, he said.

Prosecutors did not explain why they sought to dismiss the charge. Van Dyke, though stripped of his police powers, has been assigned to desk duty since the shooting. Van Dyke’s partner told investigators he had to stop the officer from reloading.

The police want to improve relations with the community, but fail to improve relations within the department.

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

The five people were charged with offenses including hitting a police officer, weapons possession and resisting arrest.

On the night of October 20, 2014, police responded to a call of a teen with a knife. Dozens of men, mostly African-American, said they were subjected to torture from a Chicago police squad headed by former commander Jon Burge during the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s, and many spent years in prison.

Earlier Tuesday, parents and guardians of students in Chicago Public Schools received an email from Janice Jackson, the district’s chief education officer, alerting them of the video’s release. It was not immediately clear whether either man already had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. At Roosevelt and State Street, protesters locked hands, enveloping several police cars.

At a press conference at City Hall Wednesday, a collective of black alderman called for London’s release, according to reporting from DNAinfo. At least two were arrested. Within seconds, Van Dyke begins shooting as McDonald is walking away.