Emanuel: No Need For Feds To Investigate Law Department

The payout – which will be divided among the victims – comes as the U.S. Department of Justice descends on the city to investigate the patterns and practices of the Chicago Police Department, which has come under fire in rececnt months for a series of killings and abuses committed by its officers.

Five officers who witnessed Officer Van Dyke gun down Mr. McDonald indicated that they saw the teenager turn toward the officer before he was shot – video evidence shows that wasn’t true. That civil suit was over two police officers who killed Darius Pinex during a traffic stop in 2011.

To date, Chicago has paid more than $100 million in “court ordered judgments, settlements of lawsuits and legal fees” related to the torture scandal, according to the Sun-Times. “They need to know it is not worth it”. A federal jury cleared the officers. The officers testified at the trial that they had pulled Pinex’s Oldsmobile over because it matched a description they had heard over their police radios of a vehicle wanted in an earlier shooting. The officers alleged Pinex ignored their orders and gunned his vehicle in reverse, throwing passenger Matthew Colyer out of the auto and nearly running Mosqueda over.

Marsh first said he had learned about the recording that day, then later said it had been the week before trial. McCaffrey said the decision to look at the cases was made by the head of the city’s law department, Steve Patton, and that there are no plans to examine closed cases that Marsh worked on since joining the department in late 1997.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he still has confidence in the city’s law office, even after a judge ruled that a city attorney hid evidence in the case of a fatal police shooting.

Marsh’s resignation was announced by the city law department, which noted it “does not tolerate any action that would call into question the integrity of the lawyers who serve” Chicago, The Washington Post reports. The department’s statement says it’s continuing to review its procedures.

Marsh does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment.

Responding to the news Tuesday, Emanuel said: “There is zero tolerance for not only violating the public trust, but your professional standards and there will be no place for that”.

The ruling involved a civil lawsuit brought on by Pinex’s family. She said the problem is bigger than a single city lawyer going astray. “It shows the city hasn’t just fought to protect officers, it also fights tooth and nail to protect its lawyers”, Greenberg said. “I don’t think they cared that (Pinex) got killed, they didn’t care what the truth was and they didn’t care they cheated (with the evidence)”.

The mayor has launched efforts to restore public confidence in police and his leadership.

Officer Jason Van Dyke now faces a first-degree murder charge for fatally shooting Laquan McDonald.

Emanuel noted it’s up to the Justice Department to determine what areas and offices to investigate. There’s nothing to indicate that Emanuel’s job is in immediate trouble, but he has faced numerous protests and plenty of criticism over the police issues. On Monday, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said he was “very disappointed” with the way the Democratic mayor has handled police misconduct cases and that, if given the opportunity, he would sign off on legislation that would let voters try to recall the mayor. He said he will not be stepping down. And the calls for his resignation have largely come from grassroots activists and residents, not from the city’s political powerbrokers.