US launches probe into Chicago police

Emanuel’s speech comes the same day the Justice Department announced it has launched a civil “pattern and practice investigation” into the Chicago Police Department to determine whether the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was part of a larger, widespread pattern of officers violating civil rights.

Word of the federal probe comes about two weeks after police released the October 2014 video of Officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shooting Laquan McDonald on a Chicago street, and it comes after reports released by the city over the weekend indicate that accounts from police on the scene appear to contradict what the footage shows. Emanuel’s office, which announced the resignation, said in a statement, “New leadership is required as we rededicate ourselves to dramatically improving our system of police accountability and rebuilding trust in that process”.

Also Monday, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said there would be no charges against Officer George Hernandez in separate case – the shooting of the 25-year-old black man, Ronald Johnson III, who was shot in the back while fleeing the police.

“The Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of law enforcement throughout the United States”, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. Johnson was armed with a loaded gun at the time of the shooting, she said.

The grainy dashcam video shows Johnson running across a street at night with several officers in pursuit.

Alvarez said there was “physical struggle” between a Chicago police officer and Johnson before the shooting, but that it was not captured on the dash cam video.

The driver told police that he thought Johnson had a gun on him, where Johnson was seated in the rear of the auto directly behind the driver, because of the gun’s racking.

“I’m going to keep going until she (Alvarez) get out of there …”

“He did not comply with any of their commands”, she said.

Alvarez said that the dashboard video of Ronald Johnson’s shooting was shown to the FBI, who said they were not going to participate in the investigation. It opened an investigation of Baltimore police in May in response to the death of a black man in police custody. Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder November 24, more than a year after the killing and just hours before the release of the footage.

Milan is also supporting Donna More, who is an opponent of Alvarez in the upcoming election.

An independent police board reviewed the dashboard camera video, McCarthy said, and decided that Officer George Hernandez was not wrong for shooting Johnson.

Since the video was made public, Mr Emanuel forced Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign and formed a task force to examine the police department. In light of that, Alvarez said, it was reasonable for Hernandez to believe that Johnson represented a threat of death or serious bodily harm to him and his fellow officers, making him legally justified in his decision to use deadly force.

Oppenheimer claimed that police planted the gun, saying it was “impossible” for Johnson to be found with a gun in his hand “due to the speed he was running”, he said. The video is overlaid with audio from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. “That’s why independent investigations are so crucial in these cases”, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement Monday.

It is impossible to watch this dashcam video without being reminded of how incredibly unsafe police work can be. Investigators also will scrutinize systems set up to ensure officers are held accountable and disciplined, as well as police training.