Chicago Police Under Federal Investigation

Johnson was shot and killed by Officer George Hernandez in October 2014.

The U.S. Justice Department will investigate the tactics of Chicago police following the killing of Laquan McDonald a year ago, according to the AP. “Yet it has become clear that new leadership is required as we rededicate ourselves to dramatically improving our system of police accountability and rebuilding trust in that process”.

The Chicago police video released almost two weeks ago showed that McDonald was veering away from police when Van Dyke shoots him. Amid an outcry after the city waited more than a year to release dash-cam footage of Officer Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced this week that he was setting up a special task force to examine, among other things, the city¿s video-release policy.

The U.S. Justice Department is expected to launch a wide-ranging investigation this week into the patterns and practices of the Chicago Police Department similar to recent probes of Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, after a white Chicago police officer shot a black teenager 16 times, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not elaborate on the investigation. But, a day later, he reversed course and said he would welcome such an investigation.

In hundreds of pages of newly released Chicago police reports, some officers described McDonald aggressively coming at Officer Jason Van Dyke – now charged with first-degree murder – while waving the knife and ignoring orders to drop the weapon.

Chicago police reports on the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald last year offer a starkly different account from the dashcam video that triggered protests in the city.

Civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson said he was pleased with the decision to investigate Chicago. Protesters counted to 16 during the march, a number that has taken on a symbolic significance since the demonstrations began.

They also called for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign. The mayor did fire the police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, last week in the face of fierce criticism of the department from African-American politicians and protesters.

The department was harshly criticized when it reported that the audio was not functioning on the dashcam that recorded the October 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by officer Jason Van Dyke.

Such investigations – separate from criminal probes of individual police officers’ misconduct – are now underway in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore. He says that when they’ve found technical problems preventing them from working they are disciplining officers who did not report those problems to their supervisors. O fell to the ground, continued to move/grasp the knife … Demonstrators will march to the Thompson Center.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to serve the City of Chicago at this important juncture and look forward to this new challenge”, Fairley said in a statement distributed by Emanuel’s office. Jackson has reiterated his call for “a full, thorough investigation with subpoena power” and says it’s time to escalate the protests. Police and police union officials initially reported that McDonald had lunged at Van Dyke, leading the officer to believe his life was in danger.

Van Dyke had been on site less than 30 seconds, and out of his vehicle for six seconds, when he started shooting, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has said.