Family of teen shot by cop expected to speak

(Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune via AP).

Dozens of medical students from various Chicago student associations protest at Daley Plaza, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015, to protest the killing of Laquan McDonald by a police officer in Chicago.

CHICAGO Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Chicago and staged “die-ins” on Thursday, calling for the resignation of embattled Mayor Rahm Emanuel a day after he emotionally apologized for the 2014 police shooting of a 17-year-old black teen.

Carson, the lone African-American candidate in either of the major-party primaries, said police departments and community leaders need to improve communication, and said the media need to report on positive events in downtrodden neighborhoods.

One of the leaders of the Chicago protests said on MSNBC Thursday that one of their main goals was to defund the police department.

Of course, the investigation comes after the Chicago Police Department came under scrutiny a case that has sparked its own federal investigation. Dash-cam video released last month has resulted in murder charges against the officer and created a firestorm of controversy for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “We simply can not condone this kind of activity”.

A police officer watches protesters during a demonstration outside the office of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Chicago, Dec. 7, 2015.

Carson would not weigh in on whether Emanuel, a Democrat who was President Barack Obama’s first chief of staff, should step down.

“There are bad apples in the Chicago Police Department as there are in all departments”, Carson said. City officials, including Emanuel, had initially refused to release the video, and critics have accused the mayor of keeping the footage out of the public eye until after he won a tough spring election for a second term.

“Whether it was a cover-up or not, it was hidden for a long time”, Carson said in response to an ABC News question.

It is unclear from her comments how Champion would specifically plan to use the money from a defunded Chicago police force to help the city’s black community. When that happens, he added, “a lot of times things do not blow up the same way”.