Judge Orders Chicago Police Release Video Of Cop Shooting Black Teen 16 Times

[Stuart G]

Source: Talking Points Memo

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge said Thursday that the Chicago Police Department has less than a week to release a video of an officer fatally shooting a black teenager and refused to give the department more time pending a possible appeal of his decision.

The video is graphic, according to some who have seen it: The 17-year-old wielding a small knife is walking away from police when one officer opens fire, shooting the teen 16 times.

Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama ordered the department to publicly release the video by next Wednesday. The attorney for the department immediately asked for more time before the release so the city could decide whether to appeal the judge's decision. But Valderrama returned a short time later and said the release order would stand.

He said the Police Department had no legal right to withhold the video because other agencies are the ones investigating the shooting.

Police had refused to release footage of the October 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald. Investigators have said McDonald refused to drop a knife when officers confronted him while responding to a call about a person walking down a street with a knife on the city's southwest side. The shooting was recorded on police dash camera video, but city attorneys said it wouldn't be released until a federal grand jury finishes its investigation of the shooting.



Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/laquan-mcdonald-shooting-police-video

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We will have to see this..but later in the article it says, that evidently the City of Chicago has already offered 5 million dollars as a payment for a lawsuit not yet filed. This one looks pretty bad. We will see how it evolves. If it is as ugly as it seems to be (read the rest of the article) there might be some protests in Chicago.. Here is one more quote, ""You see the officer begin to shoot, and he (McDonald) spins and falls to the ground," he said. Neslund said the officer then "continues to shoot him." (Nesland is the Mc Donald's family attorney)

[SoCalMusicLover]

1. Is The PIG Still On Payroll?

I'm guessing he and his family will get full retirement benefits too.

He should be tried for Murder, but given the current grand jury system, he'll probably just get off with a warning.

Edit--The article says he was assigned to desk duty, so I guess he still gets paid by the taxpayers, like the parents of the kid he blasted away at 16 times. Just to be sure, ya know.

[DreamGypsy]

2. 5 million bucks for the family, OK. But what about manslaughter charges ...

...for the cop?

Neslund (the family's attorney), who has seen the video, said the footage shows McDonald was armed with a small knife. But he said it also clearly shows that the teen was walking away from police when a white officer, who was about 15 feet away, opened fire.

"You see the officer begin to shoot, and he (McDonald) spins and falls to the ground," he said. Neslund said the officer then "continues to shoot him."

<snip>

The officer has been identified by his attorney and others as Jason Van Dyke. Police have said he was stripped of his police powers and assigned to desk duty after the shooting. Police have released few details about the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation, but the city's attorney has said McDonald was walking away from police when he was shot.

Van Dyke's attorney, Dan Herbert, said that in this "day and age" there is the possibility that someone could try to harm Van Dyke because they do not understand the context in which the shooting occurred. But Herbert braced for the judge to order the video released.

[christx30]

3. The context is that Van Dyke got scared of a knife

that was moving away from him and gunned down a kid. And the only thing we don't understand is why he isn't going to jail.
But if the city has already offered $5 million over the death, then the video must be incredibly compelling. "Here, take it. Just don't hurt me."
Time for the family and their attorney to do a full court press and squeeze the DA into filing manslaughter charges against the cop.

This kind of crap has to stop.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. Apparently, the other cops were following the teen with the knife. Cop rolls up and unloads his gun

Weird

[christx30]

6. Kind of like a "I don't got time for this #$%$"? Weird. n/t

[cloudbase]

4. Great article in today's New York Times

about how Chicago police are rarely held to account for their misdeeds:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/us/few-complaints-against-chicago-police-result-in-discipline-data-shows.html?ref=us

[Stuart G]

7. In the last hour the mayor of Chicago says the officer will face prosecution link:

From the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-judge-orders-release-of-video-showing-fatal-shooting-by-police-officer-20151119-story.html

“Police officers are entrusted to uphold the law and to provide safety to our residents,” the mayor’s statement said. “In this case, unfortunately, it appears an officer violated that trust at every level. As a result, the city’s Independent Police Review Authority promptly sent this case and the evidence to state and federal prosecutors who have been investigating it for almost a year.

more at above Tribune link
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I suspect this is the only way the city can possibly prevent serious trouble when this is video is released. If the cop is scheduled to go on trial at some future date, with formal charges, then maybe the reaction will be peaceful. Otherwise, there has been violence in reaction to events in Chicago in the past, and there could be some now.

[Downwinder]

8. They are not getting the message with single digit million dollar

awards. Going to have to be in the hundred million range to get their attention.

[Calista241]

9. They don't pay anything. The city has an insurance policy that

Covers these types of awards. The city would still need an insurance policy even if cops were no longer covered.

[Taitertots]

10. Cops laugh at settlements because they don't pay them

It could be a quadrillion dollars. It doesn't matter because the victims (citizens) pay instead of the criminals.