Chicago Police Superintendent Asked to Resign After Shooting Video Controversy

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked the Justice Department Tuesday to investigate whether the Chicago Police Department’s practices violated constitutional law.

“Now is the time for fresh eyes and new leadership to confront the challenges the department and our community and our city are facing as we go forward”, said Emanuel, who up until the press conference had voiced support for McCarthy.

Since then protesters have taken to the streets, and many – including the editorial board of the Chicago Sun-Times – called on McCarthy to quit or for Emanuel to fire him.

“This task force is long overdue to bring much-needed reform in the city of Chicago”, said Steven W. Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA. Protests followed the charging and arrest of Van Dyke and the release of the video November 24.

Mr. Emanuel was forced into a runoff in the mayor’s race earlier this year, in part because of anger in mostly black and Latino neighborhoods over the closure of almost 50 public schools and a standoff with Chicago schoolteachers that led to a strike. “McCarthy’s resignation is not the end but a beginning to rebuilding trust and confidence in the Chicago Police Department”.

“He has become an issue, rather than dealing with the issue, and a distraction”, Emanuel said of Superintendent Garry McCarthy. Months after the fatal shooting, Emanuel was re-elected, something that likely never would have happened had the video come to light prior to the election.

Along with ousting McCarthy, Emanuel also announced a police accountability task force that “will review the system of accountability, oversight and training that is now in place for Chicago’s police officers”, the mayor’s administration said in a brief news release Monday night.

Recorded by a camera mounted in a police vehicle, the grainy, nighttime video – which authorities had blocked from public viewing until a judge ordered its release – shows McDonald moving past Van Dyke and other officers.

It is the first time a Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty fatality in more than 30 years.

“I’m 56 years old”, McCarthy said. The task force will also be charged with strengthening the system to identify and evaluate cops who have received multiple citizen complaints and establishing a set of standards for the release of videos of police-involved shootings and incidents.