Article: The video that will rip Chicago apart — and why you need to see it..

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  • Delphas
    Delphas Members Posts: 2,483 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Judge ordered that the video gets released Wednesday, November 25th.

    http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1115642/cook-county-judge-orders-release-video-chicago-cop-shooting-teen-16-times

    Not sure if they picked the date because Thanksgiving will mitigate the coverage or outrage, or if that's the quickest that it could be ordered.
  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Apparently the city could still appeal ruling and delay the video being released.. That scumbag Mayor of Chicago & his pig force must really fear what's on that video.. Hopefully they won't appeal the ruling and video gets released...
  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    http://wgntv.com/2015/11/19/judge-may-release-video-of-officer-shooting-17-year-old-laquan-mcdonald/
    City will not appeal judge’s orders to release fatal police shooting video

    CHICAGO -- A judge is ordering the Chicago Police Department to publicly release a video of an officer shooting a black teenager 16 times last year.

    The department has until next Wednesday to do so.


    Sources says the city have no immediate plans to ask a federal judge to block the release.

    Some including the teen's mother worry the video could spark violent protests.

    The city has already reached a $5 million settlement with the family of the 17-year-old who died.

    A grand jury is expected to decide as soon as next week whether to indict the officer.


    Oh ? ...
  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/us/laquan-mcdonald-chicago-police-shooting.html?_r=0
    Video of Chicago Police Shooting a Teenager Is Ordered Released

    CHICAGO — A county judge on Thursday ordered the release of video from a police dashboard camera showing the fatal shooting of a black 17-year-old by a white Chicago police officer on a Southwest Side street a year ago.

    For months, the city had refused to make the video public, citing a federal investigation into the shooting. And even as Franklin Valderrama, a Cook County judge, announced Thursday that the video must be released by next week, Chicago officials indicated that they would continue to fight to block the release with an appeal. But within hours of the ruling, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city would indeed release the video within days, and for the first time issued a public condemnation of the police’s officer’s actions.

    “Police officers are entrusted to uphold the law, and to provide safety to our residents,” Mr. Emanuel said in a written statement. “In this case, unfortunately, it appears an officer violated that trust at every level.”

    Some who have seen the video say that it shows the teenager, Laquan McDonald, being struck by a barrage of bullets, some hitting him even after he had fallen to the pavement. The teenager, who the authorities say was carrying a knife, was shot 16 times, according to a report from the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Some of the bullets entered the back of his body.

    A lawyer for Mr. McDonald’s family, Michael D. Robbins, described the recording as deeply disturbing, and said it clearly showed that the shooting was unreasonable and illegal. “He was not threatening anyone,” Mr. Robbins said. “He was walking away.” He said Mr. McDonald’s grieving relatives had the videotape described to them but to date had chosen not to view it.

    Judge Valderrama’s order to release the video by next Wednesday came amid growing scrutiny of police shootings around the nation and as a series of confrontations captured on videotape in places like North Charleston, S.C., have stirred outrage.

    This city, too, has a long, painful history on matters of police conduct and race. In April, the Chicago City Council agreed to pay $5 million to Mr. McDonald’s family even as the criminal investigation went on. The city this year also agreed to provide $5.5 million in reparations to a group of men, most of them black, who said they had been systematically tortured and abused by a “Midnight Crew” of police officers on the city’s South Side in the 1970s and ’80s.

    Over the last 10 years, the city, which has about 12,700 officers, has spent more than $500 million on settlements, judgments, fees and other costs related to police misconduct, according to a 2014 investigation by the Better Government Association, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

    In the McDonald case, Chicago officers were summoned by a 911 call to a neighborhood on the city’s Southwest Side the night of Oct. 20, 2014, to investigate a report of a man with a knife trying to break into vehicles in a trucking yard. Officers came upon Mr. McDonald, who was holding a folding knife, and told him to drop it, Chicago officials have said. Mr. McDonald refused, the officers said, and he began walking or jogging away. Two officers followed him — one on foot, the other in a car — and called for backup, requesting that an officer carrying a Taser stun gun be sent to the area.

    At one point, Mr. McDonald pounded on the windshield of the squad car and punctured its front tire with the knife, city officials say. Mr. McDonald and the growing number of officers followed a path down several blocks. A police dashboard camera, captured the end of the episode: Along a multilane commercial stretch of Pulaski Road, one of the six police officers at the scene fired his weapon, striking the teenager 16 times.

    The officer, Jason Van ? , is on administrative duty pending an investigation, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department said. Since at least April, the shooting has been under investigation by a team that includes the F.B.I., the United States attorney’s office in Chicago and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

    Dan Herbert, a lawyer for Officer Van ? , said the officer believed he was justified in the shooting. Mr. Herbert described him as a highly decorated officer who had been on the force for more than 15 years. “He fired because he was in fear for his safety, as well as the safety of his colleagues,” Mr. Herbert said in an email.

    Records show Officer Van ? , who is white, had been the subject of numerous complaints from residents, including allegations of using excessive force and racial slurs, but Mr. Herbert said, “As far as I know, Jason has not had a single sustained complaint, meaning all allegations were found to be without merit.”


    The city had long argued that the video was part of the investigation into the shooting and should not be made public until the inquiry was completed. “This is consistent with the longstanding practice of federal, state and local law enforcement authorities not to release evidence related to ongoing criminal investigations,” Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Law, said this week.

    Brandon Smith, a freelance journalist, has pressed in court for release of the video under public record laws, and Judge Valderrama ruled that the Police Department could not cite an investigation as a reason to withhold the video because other law enforcement agencies — not the department itself — were conducting the inquiry.

    In announcing the city’s abrupt change of course, Mr. Emanuel said the city would release the video by Wednesday, which, he pointedly added, “we hope will provide prosecutors time to expeditiously bring their investigation to a conclusion so Chicago can begin to heal.”

    Aislinn Sol, an organizer with the Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter, said it was important for people to see the footage of the shooting, and for changes to be made at the Chicago Police Department. “What we want is for the rampant killing to stop and for police accountability to begin to be implemented in the city of Chicago,” Ms. Sol said.
  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    http://abc7chicago.com/politics/alvarez-critics-question-handling-of-police-shooting/1091981/
    ALVAREZ CRITICS QUESTION HANDLING OF POLICE SHOOTING

    The release of a video in which a black teenager is shot 16 times by a white Chicago police officer could be a key issue in the race for Cook County state's attorney.

    At issue: if the video is so revealing, why has it taken so long to determine if a crime as committed and why did the FBI get involved?

    Shortly after a Cook County judge ordered the video be released by November 25, the city announced it would not file an appeal.

    Laquan McDonald was shot to death in October 2014. In April 2015, federal authorities confirmed they had taken over. For the first six months, the office of Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez led the investigation, which included reviewing the police dashboard video.

    "Clearly the state's attorney finished her investigation. We just don't know anything about it," Donna More said. More, a former federal prosecutor, is running against Alvarez in the Democratic Primary. She said the incumbent had more than enough time to finish the investigation into the McDonald shooting.

    "It shouldn't take 13 months to determine whether you have enough evidence to file charges in a case like this," former county prosecutor Kim Foxx, who is also running, said. The city already settled with McDonald's family for $5 million.

    Alvarez has been criticized for not prosecuting police officers in abuse cases that have cost the city tens of millions of dollars in settlements to civilian victims.

    Late Thursday afternoon, her spokeswoman said the office has been working actively with "our investigative partners in the U.S. Attorney's Office, the justice department's civil rights division, the FBI and the Independent Police Review Authority."

    "The fact that we once again have another entity outside the state's attorney's office settling this type of case should be of concern to the taxpayers of Cook County who pay the State's Attorney's salary," Fox said.

    Cook County State's Attorney spokeswoman Sally Daly also said the state's attorney will not respond to any politically charged rhetoric.

    "In addition to her record of not prosecuting where the evidence points to prosecution, it is not only bad but not transparent," More said.

    The Cook County Democratic Party did not endorse incumbent Alvarez for re-election. Party insiders predict a wide-open race in which the handling of the McDonald case could be an issue.
  • Ghostdenithegawd
    Ghostdenithegawd Members Posts: 16,231 ✭✭✭✭✭
    video must be really really bad
  • lamontbdc
    lamontbdc Members Posts: 18,824 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yea it's like they acting like this ? a movie release or some ? . Making it a political issue. How bout somebody doing the correct thing. So they gonna release this ? the day before Thanksgiving hoping folks not dialed in on that ? .
  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1118413/chicago-police-department-braces-trouble-release-laquan-mcdonald-video
    Chicago cops brace for trouble with release of shooting

    Plainclothes Chicago police officers ordered to don their uniforms after the Paris attacks will likely continue to wear them next week in preparation for unrest that could follow the release of a video of a white officer firing 16 bullets into black teenager Laquan McDonald, officials said Friday.

    The death of black suspects at the hands of police triggered violent demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and New York, but Chicago managed to escape such trouble.
    That could change now that a Cook County judge has ordered the city to release the McDonald video by Nov. 25, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel reversed course and vowed to comply

    A police source said hundreds of plainclothes tactical and gang officers were ordered to wear their uniforms after the Paris attacks to “ease people’s minds,” but authorities have not received any direct intelligence of a terror threat to Chicago. Those officers are expected to continue to wear their uniforms through next week when the city will likely release the video.

    At least some days off may be cancelled and tours of duty extended as the city hopes for the best, but prepares for the worst.


    Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, who won praise for his handling of demonstrations during the 2012 NATO Summit, huddled with top deputies and Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo Friday to refine the city’s strategy for dealing with demonstrators. Police also met with business leaders with whom they worked closely before Chicago hosted the NATO Summit.

    “We have plans on the shelf,” the police source said. “We might use the same tactics that were used during the NATO demonstrations.” The department is prepared to respond to any demonstrations and will hold people accountable “if they cross the line,” the source said.

    The city is more concerned about “how to communicate the video” to the public than the possibility of demonstrations, the source said.

    Angelo said he is concerned for the safety of Police Officer Jason Van ? , who fired the 16 shots that killed McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014 — and for the rest of the rank-and-file.

    “We are concerned about his safety and every other officer’s safety. We’re concerned if, in fact, there is civil unrest — if something occurs after this video is released,” Angelo said.

    “This is my city as well. We all live here. We don’t want to see our town torn apart. We don’t want to see people get hurt.”

    Of particular concern, sources said, are officers assigned to work in one-man squad cars, officers on bike and foot patrol in South and West Side neighborhoods plagued by gang violence, and officers assigned to stand alone on fixed posts with no partner and no car.

    The controversial shooting occurred after McDonald, 17, refused police commands to drop a 4-inch knife, authorities say. Van ? ’s attorney, Dan Herbert, told reporters Friday the video is “graphic, it’s violent and it’s difficult to watch,” but the public shouldn’t conclude his client was in the wrong based solely on the video.

    He said the video doesn’t show the officer’s perspective, doesn’t have audio and distorts the distance between the officer and McDonald. Officers are trained to use deadly force when a person with a knife is within 21 feet of them and doesn’t obey commands to drop the weapon, Herbert said.

    “In this case, at the point which my client first decided to fire he was certainly within that 21-foot boundary,” he said, adding that the shooting was lawful and within police policy.

    Herbert confirmed the U.S. attorney and Cook County state’s attorney were looking at the shooting.

    “I think the U.S. attorney is seriously struggling with this case,” he said. “And I can’t speak for the U.S. attorney, but I think he’s doing the right thing. … He’s actually acting as a thorough prosecutor, not as a politician.”

    Angelo, the union president, pointed to the ongoing federal investigation that Emanuel has strongly hinted may produce an indictment of Van ? before the video is released. If the investigation cannot be wrapped up before the video is released, Angelo urged the feds to ask a judge to keep the video under wraps.

    Van ? has been stripped of his police powers, but he is still on the city payroll assigned to desk duty. No matter when the video is released, Angelo wondered how Van ? can get a fair trial if he is charged.

    “The superintendent and I don’t agree on everything. But we do agree that this could be evidence in a court proceeding. I don’t think evidence in a pending case should be released or shared with the public,” Angelo said.

    One week after Emanuel survived Chicago’s first-ever mayoral run-off, the City Council agreed to a $5 million settlement with Laquan McDonald’s family, even before a lawsuit had been filed.

    That day, Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton said the dashboard camera video triggered the settlement. In detail, Patton described for aldermen what the video shows: a Chicago Police officer firing repeatedly at McDonald as five other officers hold their fire. Patton also disclosed the shooting was the subject of a federal investigation.

    Van ? contends McDonald — who was found to have the drug ? in his bloodstream — was moving toward him with a knife in his hand and that he opened fire to protect himself and other officers. But Mike Robbins, an attorney who represents McDonald’s family, said he’s seen the video and it shows the teenager was walking away from police at the time of the shooting.

    “What’s important is that the community be told the truth about what happened, about how he was shot,” Robbins said after Thursday’s ruling.

    “The fact that there was a narrative put out there by the Chicago police, by the union initially, that a police officer had to shoot [McDonald] in self-defense, that he was approaching a police officer and lunged at a police officer with a knife, is not true. He was shot while he was walking away.”

    McDonald’s mother has not seen the video and does not want it released.

    “What mother would want to see the execution of her son over and over again on the nightly news or YouTube?” Robbins asked.

    The Chicago oink boys are officially shook...
  • Brother_Five
    Brother_Five Members Posts: 4,448 ✭✭✭✭✭
    this sounds like the Sam Dubose tape... ? poor handling by the police and the City as a whole.
  • 2stepz_ahead
    2stepz_ahead Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 32,324 ✭✭✭✭✭
    did the cops wait until this time a few years back to release info or something.

    this helps their case cause ppl are with their families
  • Copper
    Copper Members Posts: 49,532 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Eventually, McDonald family attorneys learned that police had wiped 86 minutes of footage from that tape, which doesn’t include the shooting but does show the events that led up to the fatal confrontation.
    When a reporter started poking around about the missing footage, a manager at the restaurant said he didn’t realize some of the footage was going to be deleted. When pressed, IPRA released a statement:
    “We have no credible evidence at this time that would cause us to believe CPD purged or erased any surveillance video,” the agency told NBC Chicago.


    Cops outs here erasing video evidence of murder?

    ? is rahm Emanuel doing?
  • leftcoastkev
    leftcoastkev Members Posts: 6,232 ✭✭✭✭✭
    They're discrediting the validity of the video in advanced
  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2015
  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2015
  • 2stepz_ahead
    2stepz_ahead Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 32,324 ✭✭✭✭✭
    need some gas with them candles
  • Ghostdenithegawd
    Ghostdenithegawd Members Posts: 16,231 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Copper wrote: »
    Eventually, McDonald family attorneys learned that police had wiped 86 minutes of footage from that tape, which doesn’t include the shooting but does show the events that led up to the fatal confrontation.
    When a reporter started poking around about the missing footage, a manager at the restaurant said he didn’t realize some of the footage was going to be deleted. When pressed, IPRA released a statement:
    “We have no credible evidence at this time that would cause us to believe CPD purged or erased any surveillance video,” the agency told NBC Chicago.


    Cops outs here erasing video evidence of murder?

    ? is rahm Emanuel doing?
    Copper wrote: »
    Eventually, McDonald family attorneys learned that police had wiped 86 minutes of footage from that tape, which doesn’t include the shooting but does show the events that led up to the fatal confrontation.
    When a reporter started poking around about the missing footage, a manager at the restaurant said he didn’t realize some of the footage was going to be deleted. When pressed, IPRA released a statement:
    “We have no credible evidence at this time that would cause us to believe CPD purged or erased any surveillance video,” the agency told NBC Chicago.


    Cops outs here erasing video evidence of murder?

    ? is rahm Emanuel doing?

    so where not going to see what happened?
  • Ghostdenithegawd
    Ghostdenithegawd Members Posts: 16,231 ✭✭✭✭✭
    only scenario in my head for this to be as bad as they claim it to be is he he ran up on him like "DIE ? DIE"