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Tag: jason van dyke
Chicago Mayor Apologizes, Protesters Urge He Resign

Chicago Mayor Apologizes, Protesters Urge He Resign

By Mary Wisniewski and Justin Madden

CHICAGO (Reuters) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, under heavy criticism for his handling of a police shooting that resulted in the death of a black teen, gave an emotional apology on Wednesday hours before angry crowds closed city streets while demanding his resignation.

In a special address to the City Council, the mayor said “I’m sorry” and promised “complete and total reform of the system.”

Emanuel’s speech was met with applause from the City Council, but protesters said the city’s actions do not go far enough. Hundreds of mostly young demonstrators filled downtown on Wednesday, temporarily shutting down some streets and chanting “no more killer cops” and “Rahm must go.”

“This system is designed for us to be dead or in jail and we’re tired,” said protester Jamal Wayne, 20.

Emanuel’s speech comes after two weeks of protests in Chicago following the release of a 2014 police squad car dashboard video showing police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times. Van Dyke, who is white, was charged with first-degree murder late last month.

High-profile killings of black men by mainly white police officers in U.S. cities have prompted a national debate and protests about the use of excessive force by police.

With his voice occasionally breaking, the mayor of the nation’s third-largest city reiterated reform steps he has already promised. These include setting up a task force to review police accountability, the appointment of a new head of the agency that investigates police misconduct and searching for a new police superintendent.

Among the systemic problems with police, Emanuel aimed particular criticism at the “code of silence” that keeps police officers from reporting misconduct by fellow officers. He also has criticized the agency that investigates police misconduct for finding almost all police shootings justified.

“We have a trust problem,” said Emanuel, who stated last week that he had no plans to resign.

A poll over the weekend for the Illinois Observer showed 51 percent of Chicagoans think the mayor should resign, compared with 29 percent who think he should not. Twenty percent were undecided. The survey of 739 respondents had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.68 percent.

The crowd of protesters outside City Hall on Wednesday chanted “16 shots and a cover-up,” and called for the resignation of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, who has been criticized for taking more than a year to charge Van Dyke. The protesters were mostly in their teens and twenties – and three teenagers were arrested on unknown charges.

Protester Aaron Clay, 34, said that while Emanuel’s speech may have been emotional, “I don’t think it was an apology to the community.”

State Representative La Shawn Ford, a Chicago member of the Illinois legislature’s black caucus, filed a bill in Springfield on Wednesday to allow voters to recall Emanuel.

Another recently released video shows a man in custody being tasered by police.

The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it will launch a civil rights investigation into the city’s police department, examining its use of deadly force among other issues.

Also on Wednesday, a federal judge said he would rule by Jan. 14, 2016, on whether to release video in the shooting death of another black teen. The mother of Cedrick Chatman, 17, has sued the city over Chatman’s death on Jan. 7, 2013. The city has opposed release of video in the case.

(Additional reporting by Renita Young in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Photo: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel listens to remarks at a news conference in Chicago, Illinois, United States, December 7, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young

Chicago Police Chief Out, Inquiry Launched Over Black Teen’s Death

Chicago Police Chief Out, Inquiry Launched Over Black Teen’s Death

By Mary Wisniewski

CHICAGO (Reuters) — Chicago’s police chief was ousted on Tuesday after days of protest over a white officer’s shooting of a black teenager 16 times and the department’s refusal to release a video of the killing for more than a year.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced during a news conference that he had asked Garry McCarthy, police superintendent since May 2011, to resign. The mayor also said he was creating a new police accountability task force.

The white officer, Jason Van Dyke, was charged a week ago with first-degree murder in the killing of Laquan McDonald. The video, from a patrol car’s dashboard camera, was released on the same day.

High-profile killings of black men at the hands of mainly white law enforcement officials in U.S. cities have fueled demonstrations for some two years, stoking a national debate on race relations and police tactics.

Emanuel, a Democrat and former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, said he was responsible for what happened in the case, the same as the police superintendent. He said the creation of the task force was meant to rebuild trust in the police department of one of the country’s largest cities.

The mayor said McCarthy had become “a distraction.” In an editorial on Tuesday, the Chicago Sun-Times had called for McCarthy’s resignation. The Chicago City Council black caucus and some protesters had also called for him to leave.

STREET VIOLENCE AN ISSUE FOR MAYOR

Policing and street violence have emerged as leading issues for Emanuel since his election in April to a second term after being forced into a runoff. The mayor, McCarthy and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez have faced criticism for taking 13 months to release the video of the 2014 shooting and to charge Van Dyke.

By naming a commission and removing McCarthy, Emanuel could be hoping to deflect criticism of his own handling of the case. Soon after Emanuel’s re-election, the city agreed to a $5 million settlement with the 17-year-old’s family.

The video shows Van Dyke shooting McDonald in the middle of a street on Oct. 20, 2014, as McDonald was walking away from police who had confronted him. Protests followed the charging of Van Dyke and the release of the video on Nov. 24.

Van Dyke, 37, was released from jail on Monday after posting bond on a $1.5 million bail.

A civil rights leader, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, voiced disappointment in Emanuel’s handling of the matter and urged an independent investigation led by a special prosecutor. Asked why he was not calling for the mayor to resign, Jackson said, “That’s not the role for me to play. I’m not trying to incite.” He predicted further protests.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said ultimately the mayor was to blame, not the police. “Blame Rahm Emanuel. He hired McCarthy, he set his parameters, and he fired him,” Pasco said.

Cornell William Brooks, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, accused the city of “generational police misconduct and police brutality.”

FIVE-MEMBER PANEL

Emanuel said the new five-member task force will be advised by former Massachusetts Governor and Chicago native Deval Patrick. A former government civil rights lawyer, Patrick said he hoped to help restore the community’s confidence in the police and rebuild the system of accountability.

The panel, due to make its recommendations by March 31, aims to boost independent oversight of police misconduct, ensure officers with repeated complaints are evaluated and forge a process for releasing videos of police incidents, Emanuel said.

Federal authorities have had an open criminal investigation into the shooting since April, and the U.S. Department of Justice might still investigate the police force, as it did in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore following deaths involving officers and unarmed black men.

Despite Obama’s close relationship with the mayor, there is meant to be a firewall between the White House and investigators in the Justice Department when it comes to criminal probes.

In another incident, a lawyer representing the family of a 25-year-old man killed by Chicago police on Oct. 12, 2014, told reporters that a dashboard camera video of the shooting that would challenge the police version of events could be released by court order as early as Dec. 10.

Ronald Johnson III was running from police when Officer George Hernandez arrived and seconds later shot him in the back, lawyer Michael Oppenheimer said. Police said Johnson had a gun and turned toward officers before being shot, but Oppenheimer and Johnson’s mother said a yet-to-be released video did not support that description.

In a Chicago courtroom, a 21-year-old college student was released to home detention on Tuesday on $4,500 bond following his arrest for threatening to kill 16 white male students or staff at the University of Chicago to avenge McDonald’s killing.

(Additional reporting by David Greising, Michael Lansu, Dave McKinney and Karl Plume in Chicago, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Ben Klayman in Detroit, Julia Edwards in Washington and Barbara Goldberg in New York; Writing by Howard Goller; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Photo: Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy (L) stands with Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel (C) during a recruitment graduation ceremony in Chicago, Illinois, in this April 21, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Jim Young/Files

Chicago Officer, Charged With Murdering Black Teen, Posts Bond

Chicago Officer, Charged With Murdering Black Teen, Posts Bond

By Mary Wisniewski and Justin Madden

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A white Chicago police officer, charged with murdering a black teenager, posted bond on Monday afternoon as protests continued over a patrol car’s dashboard camera video that showed the officer shooting the teen 16 times.

Protesters including NAACP President Cornell William Brooks were arrested on Monday, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Demonstrators have objected strongly to the 13-month delay in releasing the video and charging the officer for the 2014 shooting.

Police officer Jason Van Dyke appeared in shackles at Monday’s hearing, where Cook County Criminal Court Associate Judge Donald Panarese, Jr. set bail at $1.5 million, of which 10 percent had to be posted.

The police union president said union members were helping Van Dyke’s family raise the amount needed for Van Dyke to get out of jail.

Last week, Van Dyke was denied bail because the judge wanted to see the video first. Prosecutors asked on Monday that the previous ruling stand, but Van Dyke’s lawyer, Daniel Herbert, said his client posed no flight risk.

Several days of protests in the third-largest U.S. city have followed the release last Tuesday of the video, which showed Van Dyke gunning down 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in the middle of the street on Oct. 20, 2014, as McDonald was walking away from police who had confronted him. Van Dyke, 37, was charged with first-degree murder.

High-profile killings of black men at the hands of mainly white law enforcement officials in U.S. cities over the past two years have prompted demonstrations across the country, and have stoked a national debate on race relations and police tactics.

Herbert said Van Dyke is prepared to defend himself. “He is very scared about the consequences that he’s facing. He’s concerned for his wife and his children. But he’s handling it like a professional,” Herbert said.

“When you see the video alone it does not seem like a justifiable shooting,” Herbert said. But he said that consulting with Van Dyke and experts in the field, he decided the case was “absolutely defensible.

Dean Angelo, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police union, said he saw the video of the shooting, yet believed Van Dyke took “action that he believed at that time to be justified.”

The case prompted an online threat that closed the University of Chicago on Monday. Jabari Dean, 21, a student at the nearby University of Illinois at Chicago, was arrested and charged with threatening to kill 16 white male students or staff in retaliation for the shooting of McDonald, federal prosecutors said.

Ten people were arrested for disrupting traffic on Monday, including Brooks and several seminary students as they knelt to pray in the middle of LaSalle Street outside City Hall. The protest began with singing and marching around with empty caskets.

One participant, NAACP College and Youth Director Stephen Green, said he knew they would be arrested and that they decided “to break the man’s law to uphold moral law for transformation in the city of Chicago.”

Green said up to 300 people took part in the protest, and more were planned. He said a court date is pending with a possible fine.

Chicago police confirmed that citations were issued and everyone was released.

(Reporting by Justin Madden and Mary Wisniewski; Writing by Suzannah Gonzales; Editing by Grant McCool and Cynthia Osterman)

Photo: Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is seen in an undated picture released by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago, Illinois. Van Dyke was charged on Tuesday with first-degree murder in the October 2014 shooting of a black teenager, a state prosecutor said in a statement. REUTERS/Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office/Handout via Reuters