Police reports show Chicago cops’ depiction of teen’s killing differed greatly

Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called for anyone connected to the coverup of the police killing of Laquan McDonald to resign. Officers said at the time that the 17-year-old lunged at them with a knife, but the video released last week shows that McDonald was walking away at the time he was shot. Van Dyke and five other officers at the scene gave statements after the shooting in which they say McDonald, who was holding a knife, was moving toward Van Dyke when the officer fired, according to the newly-released documents.

One document said that, “In defense of his life, Van Dyke backpedaled and fired his handgun at McDonald, to stop the attack”.

Chicago police officers who watched one of their own shoot a black teenager 16 times filed reports depicting a version of events that contrasted sharply with what was captured on the dashcam footage that has sparked protests and cost the police commissioner his job.

Messages left for Emanuel’s spokesperson, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’ representative and a police union weren’t immediately returned.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said the documents show police “misrepresenting” what happened and called for an escalation of protests Sunday in the city’s business district.

NBC 5 News “News has obtained screen grabs of what appears to be at least one police officer in the Burger King at what appears to be a computer terminal that night”.

Van Dyke’s actions “show the effort the Chicago Police Department will go to in order to cover up police misconduct”, said the Lopez family’s lawyer, Terry Ekl, who has successfully sued the department multiple times in recent years.

Van Dyke’s partner, identified as Joseph Walsh, told an investigator that he repeatedly yelled “Drop the knife!” at McDonald and backed up as the teenager “continued to advance toward the officers”. Another report describes how Van Dyke feared for his life. IPRA spokesman Larry Merritt said Saturday that an investigation of the shooting was ongoing, but would not say whether IPRA was investigating whether officers made false statements or detectives falsified reports. The video does not include sound, which authorities have not explained. “McDonald raised the knife across his chest and over shoulder, pointing the knife at Van Dyke”.

This video, which garnered almost half a million views on social media, added further fuel to already simmering suspicions that police were covering something up, given Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder on November 24 – more than a year after the shooting.

McDonald was being chased by police after reports he was burglarizing vehicles.

Whether his fellow officers have continued to back Van Dyke’s claims is not clear. “When a county judge ordered the city to make it public last week, more than a year had passed since the shooting, and public confidence in the police, prosecutors and the mayor’s office had been exhausted”. CPD’s case report and all videos were turned over to IPRA and state and federal prosecutors days after the shooting.

The U.S. Department of Justice also is investigating the shooting, and the DOJ also appears to be readying a full probe of a pattern of civil rights abuses by the CPD, similar to probes that have led to federal oversight of police departments from L.A.to Cleveland. Then in the late 1990s, a company called Global Research and Development “designed the world’s first production fixed blade knife that held a multi-shot firearm inside its grip”, the website reported.

One of the reports noted what it called McDonald’s “irrational behaviour”, such as ignoring verbal directions and “growling” and making noises. The autopsy on McDonald found that he had the drug PCP in his system.