DOJ lets Chicago residents know how to air beefs about cops

A Cook County grand jury indicted Jason Van Dyke on six counts of murder and one count of official misconduct on Tuesday, three weeks after prosecutors filed the original murder charge against him.

In the midst of protests, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has taken full responsibility for the shooting on behalf of the Chicago Police Department.

Then police commissioner Garry McCarthy has already been removed from his post and the Department of Justice has announced plans for a complete probe and examination of the department’s policies and practices.

Van Dyke approached Judge James Brown with his hands clasped behind his back when his case was the first to be called in the Branch 66 bond court at about noon. The latest indictment accuses the cop of killing Laquan “without lawful justification” while being aware his actions “created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm; the misconduct charge alleges Officer Van Dyke acted outside of his official capacity as an officer of the law”.

In November, a judge ordered for dash-cam video to be released of the incident in which McDonald was shown moving away from the officer as he was sacked upon.

Rev. Michael Pfleger, the activist pastor of St. Sabina Church, said Thursday that he and about 15 others were given copies in a meeting held Wednesday with attorneys from the department’s civil rights division, and are spreading the word, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Herbert said he wants a county “outside the reach” of the mayor’s comments. “So I imagine when I bring motion for change of venue, Exhibit A will be all the mayor’s comments”.

Herbert told the judge that Van Dyke could not get a fair trial in Cook County due to the high profile of the case.

Prosecutors initially charged Van Dyke with one count of murder hours before a video of the 2014 shooting was released.

A group of retired black Chicago Police officers are calling for the department to halt promotions and hiring until federal authorities complete an investigation launched in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting. “And, you know, I understand the mayor has a job to do, but quite frankly I was upset that the comments continued to go on and on and on”. But that might be tough in this instance, said Ronald Allen, a professor at Northwestern University’s law school.