Chicago mayor to announce changes to police policy after shootings

The city’s release of the video last month, following a judicial order, touched off nationwide protests against unjustified police shootings and revealed how much official accounts of the circumstances that led to McDonald’s death differed from actual events.

Thousands of emails were released in response to open-records requests from The Associated Press and other media regarding 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was killed in October of last year after being shot 16 times. Glenn Evans, who was recently acquitted of allegations that he put a gun in a suspect’s mouth, and Officer Dante Servin, who was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct charges after he fatally shot Rekia Boyd – had resulted in criminal charges as of the time of the email.

Alvarez, along with IPRA investigators, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Police Supt.

In May, mayoral spokesman Adam Collins complained to colleagues that the Independent Police Review Authority’s did not follow his recommendation on how to respond to a TV station about McDonald.

“Emanuel’s senior legal adviser, Stephen Patton, emailed Collins on December 9, 2014, saying he told his staff to inform him “immediately” when a lawsuit in the case was filed”. News organizations had been pressing for the documents for weeks.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez on Thursday said she has asked the FBI to assist an investigation into a recent police-involved shooting where officers accidentally shot and killed a 55-year-old mother of five in Chicago.

McDonald, armed with a knife, is seen veering away from Van Dyke in the video before the veteran officer starts firing. Van Dyke, however, pleaded not guilty at a court on Tuesday.

The Justice Department announced an investigation into Chicago police practices earlier this month that will focus on their “use of force, including racial, ethnic and other disparities in use of force, and its systems of accountability”.

The shooting occurred just weeks after the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation of the Chicago Police Department.

In a move to overhaul police policy in the United States city of Chicago, every officer will be trained and armed with a Taser by June.

The Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney has requested assistance from the FBI in investigating the police-involved shooting that left a 55-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man dead last week.

A spokeswoman said Monday the department couldn’t comment beyond a statement issued Sunday because the shooting is under investigation.

The emails raise new questions about whether the Independent Police Review Authority is truly walled off to investigate police-involved shootings without outside interference, as well as the scope of police misconduct in Chicago.