Protesters rally in Chicago after no charges against officer

Last December, the Justice Department found that the Cleveland police systematically engaged in excessive use of force.

Oppenheimer accused Chicago police of covering up Johnson’s death by planting a 9-mm pistol on his body and later claiming Johnson had pointed it at them prior to the shooting.

Garry McCarthy was forced to resign and the U.S. Department of Justice announced an investigation into the Chicago Police Department’s “patterns and practices”.

She concluded, “When suspicion and hostility are allowed to fester, it can erupt into unrest”.

The Chicago investigation, which is separate from an existing federal investigation into last year’s shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, will review how the department disciplines officers and handles misconduct accusations. “While the independent investigation is ongoing, we will be doing our own review of our policies and practices surrounding the response to mental health crises”, Escalante said.

Since 2009, the Civil Rights Division has investigated nearly two dozen police departments in cities such as New Orleans, Seattle, Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo.

Eyewitness News has learned the Independent Police Review Authority is asking the Inspector General to look into official reports made by other officers.

After the McDonald video, who can trust the word of the Chicago police or the county prosecutor? She appeared with Emanuel at City Hall and said she has no agenda beyond the pursuit of integrity and transparency. Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez announced yesterday that Officer George Hernandez acted reasonably under the law.

“I do not see how the manner in which Mr. Coleman was physically treated could possibly be acceptable”, the mayor said in a statement.

It’s “the elephant in the room”, said civil rights attorney Craig Futterman, long an advocate for improving police accountability.

Johnson was struck by the bullets and fell face down. As proceedings dragged on, Mayor Rahm Emanuel doggedly resisted all calls to release dash-camera video of the shooting.

Prosecutors also showed reporters an image with a red circle around Johnson’s hand, saying that forensic experts clarified images of a weapon.

Alvarez said the video didn’t have audio, therefore it was linked with zone communication from the incident.

Johnson’s family and its attorney rejected Alvarez’s decision, calling it a “joke” and dismissing authorities’ assertions that Johnson was armed.

“I had hoped my son’s death would give us an opportunity for change in the community, but they have only changed one person at IPRA”, said Percy Coleman, himself a career police officer.

The Chicago City Council signed off on a $5 million settlement with McDonald’s family even before the family filed a lawsuit, and city officials fought in court for months to keep the video from being released publicly. The city’s early efforts to suppress the footage coincided with Emanuel’s re-election campaign, when the mayor was seeking African-American votes in a tight race.

The city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, says the video should be released this week.

Organizers said late Monday that roughly 50 to 100 protesters were marching and rallying on the city’s South Side.

Politicians, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, called for the federal civil rights investigation.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the focus of the probe will not be any individual incident.

Oppenheimer also noted that one witness, a civilian known as “witness A”, who did speak to the State’s Attorney’s office, said in a sworn deposition that “the idea of a gun wasn’t really a thing until they (detectives) presented the idea to me, or the situation to me”. “And we do know that young black men are stopped more often, frisked more often, arrested and jailed more often, and that they are subject to deadly force far more often”.

“You’re never going to have a flawless police department – people are going to make mistakes”.