Department of Justice to Investigate Chicago Police Department

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez will discuss the investigation into the October 2014 shooting of Ronald Johnson – the same month as Mr. McDonald’s death.

As revealed by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the objective of the proceeding is to find out if that security body has incurred in a violation of the Constitution and the law in the wake of the killing a year ago of the black youngster Laquan McDonald by a white police officer.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who had initially disagreed with calls for a federal civil rights investigation, said on Monday that he welcomed Lynch’s announcement and pledged the city’s “complete cooperation”.

“I don’t see the method by which the way in which Mr. Coleman was physically handled could perhaps be okay”, Mr. Emanuel said in a statement. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly before it was announced and spoke Monday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The only appointed official among the three main players in the Chicago law enforcement, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was forced out by Emanuel, but the public is not and should not be satisfied. The city released several police reports this past weekend, and there were five officers that kind of all gave the same narrative about how Laquan McDonald was attacking officers, and that when he was shot and down on the ground, how he was still trying to get up and trying to attack officers. The video does not include sound, which authorities have not explained.

Also late Monday, the city released a video from 2012 that shows officers dragging a handcuffed suspect by the wrists.

The video was also slowed down to show what McCarthy said was a gun in Johnson’s hand; prosecutors say a loaded weapon was found in his hand after he was killed. Prosecutors have not said if they will charge Officer George Hernandez in the shooting.

The civil rights investigation, which is separate from an existing federal criminal investigation of the shooting itself, will also review how the department handles misconduct accusations. Protesters counted to 16 in reference to the shots fired, a number that has taken on a symbolic significance since the demonstrations began.

The Chicago Police Department said the IPRA is conducting the investigation into McDonald’s killing.

On Sunday, the mayor announced that Scott Ando, head of the authority that investigates police shooting incidents like the McDonald and Johnson cases, had stepped down. In a statement soon after the event, the Chicago Police Department said that McDonald was armed with a knife, and had refused to drop his weapon as he approached officers. “This is what our Chicago police brethren deserve and what the city of Chicago citizens demand”.

Responding to questions about why Johnson was shot in the back, Alvarez said Johnson could have turned and fired at Hernandez or other officers, and that his gun was linked to a 2013 shooting. “They have the power to determine how long records are kept”, said Samantha Liskow, a civil rights attorney. Since Alvarez and Emanuel are both elected, they are seemingly untouchable at the moment, but the world is crumbling around them.

Emanuel said he will implement recommendations from the federal probe and act on reforms outlined by his new police accountability task force, which was announced last week.

There’s no set timeline for the investigation, which Lynch said is “in the interest of the people of Chicago, who deserve a world-class police department and constitutional policing”. “While the independent investigation is ongoing we will be doing our own review of our policies and practices surrounding the response to mental health crises”.

Of 409 officer-involved shootings in Chicago since September 2007 – an average of one a week – only two have led to credible allegations against an officer, the Chicago Tribune reported. The federal government has the option of suing a police department that is unwilling to make changes.