Police May Have Lied On Reports About Incident

The Chicago Police Department released documents late Friday evening from the investigation of the police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, which reveal drastic differences in what officers said took place during the shooting compared to what is actually seen in video footage.

About 200 protesters are demonstrating in downtown Chicago following the release of documents showing that police officers’ accounts of the 2014 killing of a black teen differed greatly from what was captured on dashcam video.

Hundreds of pages of police reports released by the city late on Friday indicated that, during an initial police investigation, at least five officers corroborated Van Dyke’s account that McDonald moved toward officers, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“At least one patrol officer said McDonald was advancing on the officers in a menacing way and swung his knife at them in an “aggressive, exaggerated manner” before he was shot and killed”. The statements led police supervisors to rule McDonald’s death a justifiable homicide.

Van Dyke was charged with murder the same day the video was released even though more than a year had passed since the shooting.

In newly released police reports, however, several officers, including Van Dyke, described McDonald as aggressively approaching officers while armed with a knife. The report noted that the department had been given a warning about modified knives that could shoot bullets, and the reports on McDonald’s death included information about what is known as the “21 foot rule”, which suggests that a suspect with a weapon within 21 feet of a police officer is able to close that ground easily. “If the criminal investigation concludes that any officer participated in any wrongdoing, we will take swift action”, he said in an emailed statement.

Jackson says the newly released documents show police “misrepresenting” what happened the night of Laquan McDonald’s death. Multiple officers reported that even after McDonald was down, he kept trying to get up with the knife in his hand.“In defense of his life, Van Dyke backpedaled and fired his handgun at McDonald, to stop the attack, ” one report reads. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has called for an overall federal investigation of police department practices, which Democratic presidential candidates and local Illinois politicians have echoed. It was only after the video’s release, in fact, that Emanuel fired police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, saying McCarthy had lost the public trust. Emanuel has also since announced the expansion a body camera program and formed a task force.

“The police chief can not be the fall guy, nor is Jason the only guy”, Jackson said at a press conference Saturday.

The police reports refer to him as the “offender” and Van Dyke and other officers as “victims”. VD continued firing. O appeared to be attempting to get up, still holding knife. It’s not clear who wrote some of the police reports. Van Dyke’s attorneys have said the shooting was justified because he felt threatened. But, in another contradiction, one of the police reports said the recovered knife’s “blade was in the open position”.

One of the reports noted what it called McDonald’s “irrational behavior”, such as ignoring verbal directions and “growling” and making noises. The autopsy on McDonald found that he had the drug PCP in his system. The teen was being chased by police after reports he was burglarizing cars and slashing tires.