Chicago police officer charged with murder in

shooting of black teenager

By Mark Berman and Mark Guarino-November 24

CHICAGO A Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder in
the shooting death of a 17-year-old last year, authorities said Tuesday.
The charges were announced a day before the city plans to release a video that
captured the shooting, footage that officials worry could lead to intense protests.
Officer Jason Van Dyke turned himself in to authorities Tuesday morning, before
a scheduled appearance in bond court at the George N. Leighton Criminal
Courthouse, according to Anita Alvarez, the states attorney for Cook County, Ill.
Van Dyke shot and killed Laquan McDonald, 17, on Oct. 20, 2014, after Chicago police
officers encountered the teenager on the southwest side of the city. McDonald was
holding a knife, which police said he used to slash the tires of one squad car.
But the shooting, which involved a barrage of bullets fired at McDonald even after he
fell to the ground, was not justified, Alvarez said during a news conference on
Tuesday afternoon.
Laquan McDonald. (Courtesy of the law offices of Jeffrey J. Neslun)

Van Dyke was on the scene for less than 30 seconds before he began firing a total of
16 shots, Alvarez said. His actions were not a proper use of deadly force, she said.
He abused his authority, and I dont believe the use of force was necessary, Alvarez
said. She also said: With these charges, we are bringing a full measure of justice that
this demands.
[The Washington Posts database of people fatally shot by police officers this year]
A judge recently ordered the release of the video showing McDonalds shooting,
saying that it had to be made public by Wednesday, and officials in Chicago say
they are worried about the reaction to the video.
It is everything it has been described to be by the news accounts, Alvarez said. It
is graphic, it is violent, it is chilling. Ive been a prosecutor for nearly 30 years to
watch a 17-year-old, young man die in such a violent manner is deeply disturbing.
Van Dyke could face between 20 years and life in prison, Alvarez said.
An attorney for Van Dyke has said the officer feared for his life when he opened fire.
The video is graphic, Daniel Herbert, an attorney for Van Dyke, said in anews
conference before the charges were announced. Its violent, and its difficult to watch
at some points.
Herbert also said the video alone was not enough to show that Van Dyke acted
inappropriately in any way, saying that he believed, based on the evidence he had
seen, that the officers actions were legal and followed departmental policy.

Jason Van Dyke arrived at the courthouse on Tuesday. (Antonio

Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Police officers are entrusted to

uphold the law, and to provide safety to our residents, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
(D) said in a statement. In this case unfortunately, it appears an officer violated that
trust at every level.
Emanuel said that he hoped the videos release and the end of the investigation could
allow the city to begin to heal.
Even as investigations into the shooting continued, the city agreed that it would pay
millions of dollars, even before any lawsuit was filed in the case. In April, the Chicago
City Council approved a $5 million dollar settlement to McDonalds relatives.
Demonstrations have erupted nationwide in response to the deaths of black adults and
youths during and after encounters with police. The charges against Van Dyke were
announced on the first anniversary of a Missouri grand jurys decision not to charge a
police officer for shooting and killing an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo.
Protests have continued to crop up in cities after deaths at the hands of police officers.
In Minneapolis, where a recent police shooting there has sparked days of
demonstrations at a police building, five protesters were shot late Monday. Authorities
said they were searching Tuesday for multiple suspects in that shooting.

Follow
Morgan Radford

@MorganRadford

#JasonVanDyke hearing: walked in w/ hands behind back. Jaws clenched.

NO BOND. Wife has his gun. #LaquanMcDonald
1:30 PM - 24 Nov 2015 Chicago, IL, United States
Van Dyke is believed to be the first Chicago police officer charged with first-degree
murder in more than three decades, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Police officers are rarely charged for fatally shooting people in the line of duty, and a
Washington Post analysis of 54 officers charged for such shootings over the past
decade found that many charges were dropped or the officers acquitted.
Several officers charged this year after high-profile incidents. A campus police officer
in Cincinnati was charged after fatally shooting an unarmed black manduring a traffic
stop, charges that similarly preceded the release of a graphic video. A reserve deputy
in Tulsa, Okla., was charged with second-degree manslaughter for shooting and killing
an unarmed black man. Meanwhile, six officers in Baltimore were charged in the arrest
and death of Freddie Gray.
McDonalds death prompted outrage and sparked a federal criminal investigation, with
the FBI and Justice Department saying they were investigating the circumstances
of the shooting.
Michael Pfleger, a Chicago Catholic Priest who has become an outspoken advocate
against inner-city violence, says he is happy for the charges but is angry it took the
states attorney [nearly a year].
There is no way this length of time should have gone on so long when the video

showed all this evidence, he said. Shame on them for being so late.
Alvarez defended the time it took between the shooting and the charges, saying the
investigation was complex.
On North Springfield Avenue in the citys Garfield Park neighborhood on the West
Side, where McDonald lived, Marvin Lewis, a neighbor, said charging Van Dyke took
too long.
Lewis, 69, said he is doubtful that the charges will stop what he says is police
shooting people for nothing other than because theyre black.
Itll slow them down. It wont stop them, he said.
Lewiss grandson, Deontue Smith, 13, agrees. He said people in his neighborhood
were heartbroken when they heard of McDonalds shooting death last year.
Theyre scared their son will be shot out here, he said. Smith says he does not
particularly fear police, but admits that since the McDonald killing, that has changed: I
get nervous when I see them.
Yolanda Harris, 44, said McDonald spent time in her house playing with her son when
he was as young as 12 years old.
He was a good kid, happy, she said. Because of problems involving his parents, she
says he spent time in foster homes, which made him more inclined to search out her
household because it was where he found love.
He was hurting, she said. He did not deserve to be executed.
A small group of people gathered Tuesday at a Burger King on the citys southwest
side in a vigil for McDonalds death. Prosecutors say Van Dyke shot McDonald on the
street 100 yards outside the restaurant.
Jay Darshane, the Burger Kings district manager, has told local media that several
Chicago police officers deleted 86 minutes of footage from their surveillance cameras,
which authorities have disputed. Alvarez said testing showed there was no tampering
with any evidence at the Burger King.
Sam Griffin, 45, said as he was exiting the restaurant that the 16 shots fired at
McDonald says it all about how he believes the Chicago police treat black people.
You dont have to shoot an animal that many times to put it down. It speaks for itself,
he said.
He is also critical of the police officers on the scene besides McDonald who are not yet
charged but who witnessed it take place.
Theyre sworn to uphold the law, but theyre breaking the law, he said. It makes a
statement that this kind of thing is not going to go unnoticed and its not going to be
tolerated.
The vigil at Burger King brought together a small group of community activists who

prayed on the corner as large trucks barreled past and cars turned into the parking lot
for a midday meal.
Tio Hardiman with Violence Interrupters says his group is calling for the resignation of
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy because it took a year for charges to
be brought against Van Dyck.
Why did they wait so long to deal with the truth, he asks.
Protests are expected throughout the weekend. Hardiman says that the protests will
not be violent as they were in Baltimore or Ferguson, Mo., because, he believes,
young black people are tuned out to issues of police brutality.
Theyre too busy killing each other, he said.
Quovadis Green said Emanuels outrage at the video is insincere because of the $5
million settlement the city offered McDonalds family before they even had a chance to
file a lawsuit. The settlement took place during the time Emanuel was running for a
second term.
The evidence is against him, Green, 24, said. If he was sincere, he would have
released the tape last June. Theyre trying to just calm people own. Theyre scared
because all hell is going to break loose.
Guerilla-style protests are planned as soon as that video comes out, Green says
Michigan Avenue is going to be very uncomfortable. Were going to hit them from
every angle and every neighborhood. We got show people that no one is above the
law.
Berman reported from Washington and Guarino reported from Chicago.

[This post has been updated. First published: 11:20 a.m.]

Related:
The Posts database on police shootings
How The Post is tracking these shootings
Unarmed and Black: unarmed black men are seven times more likely than whites to
die by police gunfire
Current and former police officers describe tension in current environment

Mark Berman is a reporter on the National staff. He runs Post Nation, a destination for
breaking news and stories from around the country.
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