Ferguson-Style Investigation Planned in Chicago

U.S. authorities would look at the section’s use of force, including lethal force, among other problems, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told a news briefing.

The announcement comes amid protests over a video showing a white Chicago police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times and criticism of how the department and other officials handled the teen’s killing.

On Monday, the US Department of Justice announced it is launching an investigation into the Chicago Police Department.

This investigation in Chicago, coming after similar investigations in Baltimore, Maryland and Ferguson, Missouri, will focus on the police department’s use of force, how officers are held accountable and how the department tracks and handles such incidents.

“The prosecution couldn’t establish beyond a reasonable doubt the activities of Officer Hernandez weren’t practical and permissible”, she told reporters. Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced Mond…

Emanuel initially said a federal civil rights investigation would be “misguided”, but then later reversed course. She accused Johnson of posing an immediate threat to the officers involved in the shooting and the area around him. Prosecutors have charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder. Prosecutors say a Chicago police officer will not be charged in the shooting of the 25-year-old black man who authorities said was armed with a gun as he ran away from officers.

During her news conference, which lasted more than an hour, one of Alvarez’s prosecutors showed reporters dash-cam footage and pointed to frames she said showed Johnson wielding a gun.

The legislation, introduced by Chicago Democrat Rep. Arthur Turner, would require police agencies who want to deny release of a video under the Freedom of Information Act to prove their case in court.

“It took three pages to list all the bruising and abrasions and swelling on his body”, said the Coleman’s family attorney, Ed Fox.

Like the Laquan McDonald police shooting video, the dashcam from the Johnson foot chase does not contain audio.

– In East Haven, Connecticut, federal investigators determined Latinos were subjected to more traffic stops, harsher treatment and more retaliation over discrimination complaints, a 2011 Justice Department report said.

With the city’s handling of such cases under intense scrutiny, Alvarez defended the decision at a press conference in which she released a police dashcam video and a video presentation with recordings of 911 calls and police radio traffic at the time of incident. 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 majority of the investigations end with court-enforceable agreements between the federal government and the community that serve as blueprints for change. Hernandez began pursuing him, eventually opening fire and striking Johnson one in the back of the shoulder and again in the back of the leg.

“Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of our residents and ensuring that the men and women of our Police Department have the tools, resources and training they need to be effective crime fighters, stay safe, and build community trust”, Emanuel said in a statement.

“Officer Arturo Becerro said: “(I) saw (Laquan) in the middle of the street flailing arm, saw a knife in (his) hand, heard multiple shots, did not see who fired”.

Sharon Fairley will be chief administrator for the city’s Independent Police Review Authority, replacing Ando, a veteran Drug Enforcement Administration agent who joined the IPRA in 2011 and took its reins previous year. The family has filed a federal civil suit against the Chicago Police Department and Officer George Hernandez.

Emanuel acknowledged “the checkered history of misconduct in the Chicago Police Department” in an opinion column published in the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.