Laquan McDonald Police Report Dramatically Different From Video

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says he will lead a march through downtown Chicago on Sunday in response to newly released police reports about the shooting of Laquan McDonald and the city’s handling of it and other shootings involving officers.

One report said Van Dyke “fired his handgun at McDonald, to stop the attack”.

With aftershocks from the release of dashcam video showing McDonald’s shooting still rumbling through Chicago, a dashcam video of yet another fatal police shooting is about to be released.

In handwritten notes by Sgt. Daniel Gallagher, one of the detectives assigned to the case, Van Dyke (who was in the passenger seat that night) said he had opened the squad auto door to “confront” McDonald, but Walsh told him not to because they were too close to McDonald.

Johnson’s case – and the video – is receiving renewed attention in the wake of the case of McDonald, a black teenager. The officer was arrested, but he is now out on bail.

Police also released video from Van Dyke/Walsh’s auto and another vehicle that arrived after the shooting to the Tribune last week.

Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke leaves the Cook County Jail after posting bond on Monday, Nov. 30, 2015, in Chicago. The attorney for the family of another Chicago man fatally shot by police says the city’s reversal on deciding to publicly release video of the incident is a small step in terms of justice. Amid an outcry after the city waited more than a year to release dash-cam footage of Officer Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced this week that he was setting up a special task force to examine, among other things, the citys video-release policy.

In this October 20, 2014 frame from dash-cam video provided by Chicago Police Department, Laquan McDonald falls to the ground after being shot by officer Jason Van Dyke in Chicago. The authority has not released its report on McDonald’s death.

The Chicago Police Department said the Independent Police Review Authority is conducting the investigation into McDonald’s killing. This homicide has sparked a great deal of controversy in Chicago, but here I focus on what Van Dyke’s actions reveal about his mindset and its relationship to the racialized culture of American psychopathy. Politicians (including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders) and activists have called for further investigation into the Chicago Police Department. The mayor called for police department reform, and said he took responsibility for the force’s failings. Under federal case law, statements the officers were compelled to make as part of the department’s internal investigation can not be used against them in any criminal prosecution. The statements claim Van Dyke was in danger because the 17-year-old attempted to attack the officer with a three-inch blade knife he had in his possession. Van Dyke performed a tactical reload of his pistol with a new magazine and then assessed the situation.

Van Dyke told investigators that McDonald was “swinging the knife in an aggressive, exaggerated manner” and raising the weapon above his shoulder from about 10 to 15 feet away, according to the reports.

The police reports are blacked out in places, with those redactions covering signatures, a reporter’s cell phone number, the serial number of the officer’s gun and McDonald’s address.