Mayor Rahm Emanuel ousts Chicago police superintendent

The announcement of McCarthy’s firing had many on social media wondering when Emanuel would get his comeuppance.

CHICAGO The release of squad-car video showing a white Chicago police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times set off a dramatic chain of events, from days of demonstrations to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s firing of the city’s police superintendent.

The Chicago Urban League also sent a letter asking for a review of the police department.

“How do we ensure that we are effectively policing the police?” he said, naming five members to a new task force that will research the city’s handling of excessive force complaints, recognize early warning signs for problem officers and balance efforts to improve transparency without compromising pending investigations. In fact, supplanting local police forces responsible to the communities they are entrusted to protect and serve with a nationalized police force beholden to Washington would likely cause Americans to look back on today as the “good old days”. Dashcam video of that shooting was recently released after a judge ordered it be made public, sparking outrage and protests.

The video shows that McDonald, who was walking down a street holding a small folding knife, was several feet away from the officer and not moving toward him when the officer opened fire.

Van Dyke shot McDonald along a stretch of Pulaski Road near 41st Street in October 2014.

Citing a lack of public trust in police leadership, Mayor Rahm Emanuel dismissed Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on December 1, 2015.

McCarthy and other city officials spent a year fighting multiple lawsuits from lawyers and journalists seeking the police video.

“He has both modernized the police department and brought real results for the people of Chicago”, Emanuel. The Chicago City Council black caucus had also called for him to leave.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who had stood by Superintendent Garry McCarthy, announced during a news conference he had asked McCarthy to resign.

But the police chief came under pressure because of homicides that included high-profile cases such as the slaying of Hadiya Pendleton.

“Police officers are only effective if they’re trusted by all Chicagoans whoever they are and wherever they live in the city”, said Emanuel, vowing more oversight and to take steps to rebuild trust between police and the communities where they serve. The police board will be tasked with finding a permanent superintendent, he said. “I think the State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez needs to be not only challenged but replaced”.

Van Dyke’s attorney, Dan Herbert, maintains that Van Dyke feared for his life, acted lawfully and that the video does not tell the whole story. Authorities say Dean, who is black, posted the threat after prosecutors charged Officer Jason Van Dyke with first-degree murder in Laquan McDonald’s death and released the video of the shooting.

Handout Laquan McDonald, 17, was gunned down by an officer in 2014.

“I said a long time ago that upon the completion of the investigation, the video would be released”, Emanuel said. “Trust in the Chicago Police Department is broken”.