Chicago Mayor Emanuel Asks Police Chief To Resign

Mayor Rahm Emanuel ousted Chicago’s police superintendent Tuesday, after the city’s police department came under fire over an officer shooting a teenager 16 times, and for resisting, for more than a year, to release a video of the fatal shooting.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced during a news conference that he had asked Garry McCarthy, police superintendent since May 2011, to resign.

The mayor credited McCarthy with modernizing the police force, getting illegal guns off the streets and pushing a community policing strategy that the mayor said had reduced overall crime rates to a record low. Laquan McDonald, a black teen, was shot 16 times by officer Jason Van Dyke while trying to walk away. The release set off several days of protests.

McCarthy’s department had faced ongoing criticism for the 2014 officer shooting of McDonald, and the ensuing firestorm involving video from the shooting, which was released last week.

But besides a new police chief, Zopp said more changes are needed to ensure the cultural of the police department changes for the better.

A police investigation showed that the youth was carrying a knife with the blade folded into the handle at the time of the shooting, with an autopsy showing that he had PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, in his system.

Van Dyke, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the case, continued firing at McDonald after he had crumpled to the ground. He was re-elected in April but is now facing skepticism in some of the same neighborhoods over the police treatment of young black people and over how his office handled the McDonald case in the 13 months before video of it became public. He was placed on administrative duty after the shooting, still receiving a salary from the police department until he was charged with murder.

The mayor’s dismissal of the Chicago Police superintendent leaves unanswered a number of serious questions. But he also said McDonald did seem to slightly “square his shoulders” toward Van Dyke, which he says Van Dyke may have perceived as a threat.

Emanuel also announced a task force on police accountability, with former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick serving as a senior adviser. Emanuel cited a need for “fresh eyes and new leadership” as the city seeks to heal and move forward following the devastating release of details of McDonald’s shooting, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“I think I’m doing my job”.

High-profile killings of black men at the hands of mainly white law enforcement officers in Unites states (US) cities have fueled demonstrations for some two years, stoking a national debate on race relations and police tactics.