Chicago protests over police shooting of black teen

Writing on his new Facebook page, the US President said: “Like many Americans, I was deeply disturbed by the footage of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald”. At least 18 civilian complaints have been lodged against Van Dyke over 14 years.

The relevant portion of the Chicago video runs for less than 40 seconds and has no sound.

Though McDonald was killed in October 2014, the video was just released. Other officers were on the scene, but no other officers fired their weapons. McDonald spins around and collapses.

The vehicle with the camera continues to roll forward until the officers are out of the frame.

Protesters took to the streets, occasionally blocking intersections and then moving on. “There is no good reason why she has waited this long to file charges against Officer Van Dyke”, Rev. Charles Straight, a leader of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation said in a statement Tuesday evening.

Police have said the teen had a knife. Alvarez said Tuesday that a 3-inch knife with its blade folded into the handle was recovered from the scene.

“We need as a city to get to a point where young men see an officer and don’t just see an officer with a uniform and a badge… and for police see a young man not as a potential problem, as a risk, but also an individual worthy of their protection”, he said. More police cars show up, and police officers stand near the area where McDonald was shot. A handful of people have been arrested during those protests.

“Indict, convict, send the killer cops to jail”, people shouted as they marched about half a mile to the Chicago Police Department. Hours later, the city released a dash-cam recording showing Van Dyke repeatedly shooting the 17-year-old in the middle of Pulaski Road. The killings, some of which have been captured on video, were a factor in the rise of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement and have become an issue in the November 2016 US presidential campaign.

Van Dyke’s lawyer, Daniel Herbert, did not return a message left Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Van Dyke’s attorney has said the officer feared for his life when he fired at McDonald and that the case should be tried in the courtroom, not in social media or on city streets.

“Video by its nature is 2-dimensional”.

“It appears to everybody who has seen that tape that it did not and should not have taken a full year to determine what happened when all the facts were known and there was a clear video to show it”, said Alderman Harold Brookin, a member of Chicago’s Black Caucus.

Van Dyke was being held separate from the general inmate population at his request, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Department.

However, this week’s release of police dashcam video of the McDonald’s killing is becoming a political as well policing controversy. After a judge’s order, the investigations were quickly wrapped up and a charge announced.

London, who was wearing a T-shirt with the phrase “Unapologetically black” on it, walked outside the courthouse to loud cheers. “The question is, why are they not being charged?”

Malcolm London, a 22-year-old organizer with the Black Youth Project 100, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery to a police officer after allegedly punching one officer.