Chicago cop: Video of shooting 'doesn't show my perspective'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Don Babwin, Associated Press
Updated 9:32 pm CDT, Tuesday, October 2, 2018



Photo: Antonio Perez, AP
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Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke dabs his eyes as he testifies in his murder trial Tuesday Oct. 2, 2018, in Chicago, for the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)


CHICAGO (AP) — A white Chicago police officer charged with murder in the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald testified Tuesday that he opened fire when the black teenager kept advancing toward him while waving a knife, adamantly sticking to his version of events even when confronted with video that showed a different scene.

In a clear but sometimes halting voice, at times fighting back tears, Officer Jason Van Dyke described arriving in his police SUV to find McDonald in a city street, carrying a small knife that the 17-year-old had previously used to puncture the tire of a squad car after officers responded to a report of someone breaking into vehicles. Van Dyke later turned defiant under questioning by prosecutors who pointed out that video of the Oct. 20, 2014 , shooting didn't match his account, telling jurors: "The video doesn't show my perspective."

The video shows Van Dyke exit his vehicle and start firing even as McDonald appears to veer away from police. After the bullets start, McDonald spins and falls to the ground. Van Dyke continues firing, shooting a total of 16 shots. About 10 other officers were on the scene, and prosecutors have stressed that none of them — including Van Dyke's partner — opened fire.

Van Dyke described McDonald as being "without expression," his eyes "bugging out of his head" and looking "right through me." He said McDonald was getting closer to him and was ignoring repeated commands to drop the knife. An autopsy shows McDonald had the hallucinogenic drug PCP in his system.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Chicago-officer-s-trial-to-resume-after-13273936.php

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[AKing]

1. I watched all of his testimony. His defense team made a simulated animated video showing his line...

of sight and view of the victim and it did not match his testimony. In fact it was the complete opposite. Van Dyke was rude to the prosecutor and the tears seemed phony too. He claimed that he continued to shoot the victim because he thought he was getting back up. Trial resumes Wednesday with prosecution rebuttal.

[marble falls]

2. This is all the video we need, it shows the cop and the victim, we see everything he saw ...

That cop got pissed off because he thought the victim was a smart ass so he lit the kid up.

[Progressive Jones]

3. I've seen this vid 100 times since it was released.

For whatever reason, this cop went off. There were already cops at the scene. They saw no need to fire. Van Dyke had to have been in an unstable state that night.
He failed miserably as a cop and as a human that night. He has to pay for that failure.

[7962]

4. Armed with a knife not a gun, he was still simply too far away to start firing.

Especially with other officers on the scene.
Had he actually CHARGED the officer, that distance closes quickly & I probably would've shot. But THIS scenario doesn't support a valid reason to shoot
IMO.

[Nitram]

5. What perspective is "your perspective," Officer Van Dyke?

Racist cops are deathly afraid of black men. That fear actually incapacitates their sense of judgment and causes them to interpret any behavior at all as aggressive and dangerous. I don't doubt they actually "see" a gun instead of a cell phone, or an attack rather than a retreat. Fear warps their sense of reality to the point that they have the equivalent of hallucinations. That's why we need video documentation of every cop's interactions with the public.

[ROB-ROX]

6. THIS COP SHOULD SPEND THE REST OF HIS NATURAL LIFE IN PRISON

His action is murder with a badge. He killed a person who was not a threat. This man should be imprisoned to protect the public. I think all people who kill or murder people should be imprisoned to protect the public. The badge should not protect him. The badge should mean he and those who trained him should be in jail for failing the public. The clowns ( bad people) who make money to wear a badge should be FIRED then IMPRISONED to send a message to the herd that we the public are WATCHING...........