Chicago cops’ versions of teen’s killing at odds with video

Late Friday, the city released the police reports filed after the October 2014 killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The officer continued shooting McDonald after he crumpled to the ground and was barely moving.

Chicago reports Dyke and multiple police officers that were near or on the scene of the incident completed the Case Supplemental report, filed months after McDonald’s October 2014 death.

According to the records, Van Dyke and five other cops claim that McDonald was advancing toward officers in a threatening way, despite the fact that the video shows him walking away. Tucked into the reports is the December 2012 bulletin that warns officers about a “revolver knife”, as well as a mention that Van Dyke remembered the bulletin.

“McDonald fell to the ground but continued to move and continued to grasp the knife, refusing to let go of it”, the detective’s report continues. The reports included a copy of the warning issued by an unnamed “Midwest intelligence organization” that had been circulated to officers.

All of the officers involved in the shooting were officially cleared, despite an admission by Pedro Solis’, the officer who shot Mr. Lopez 11 of 16 times, that he had been drinking prior to pursuing Lopez, a detail that was left out of official reports.

In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, the police department said a local review of officer conduct in the shooting has been suspended in light of the continuing U.S. Department of Justice investigation.

With the recent police shootings captured on video, Escalante says if he is chosen as the next superintendent his first task would be to renew the public’s faith in the department.

After fighting for months in court to keep the video surveillance private and taking more than a year to charge Van Dyke with first-degree murder, the Chicago police department is now under federal investigation and some city officials have been accused of contributing to a cover up.

The documents were released early Saturday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration, The USA Today reported. In an attempt to quell unrest over the video, Emanuel dismissed his police chief shortly after the video’s release.

Laquan McDonald in an undated photo provided by his family.

“At the end of the day, I am the mayor and I own it. I take responsibility for what happened and I will fix it”, Emanuel wrote, about the long delay before the video’s release and the “crimes of a small number of officers”. The statements led police supervisors to rule McDonald’s death a justifiable homicide.

Chicago authorities have not been able to explain why the footage released to the public, including from other squad cars on scene, doesn’t have audio when department technologies allow for it.

Van Dyke’s attorney, Dan Herbert, maintains that Van Dyke feared for his life and acted lawfully. Dashcam video of that shooting was recently released after a judge ordered it be made public, sparking outrage and protests. Herbert didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, and neither did police or union officials.

But chilling video from an officer’s dash cam, released just last month under a court order, told a different story.

Newly released documents show that the officers at the scene of the shooting described a dramatically different sequence of events leading up to McDonald’s death. The focus on Van Dyke’s actions in 2014 has raised questions about how Chicago police handled a 2005 shooting.

In one report, Van Dyke is quoted as saying that from his training he knew that an assailant with a knife posed a deadly threat, possibly hurling the weapon at the officer. “VD continued firing. O appeared to be attempting to get up, still holding the knife, pointing at VD”.

Van Dyke’s lawyers have said the shooting was justified because he felt threatened. Sanders says: “No one should be shielded by power or position”.

One of the reports noted what it called McDonald’s “irrational behavior”, such as ignoring verbal directions, “growling” and making noises.