"" CHICAGO — The city of Chicago is bracing for
the release this week of a potentially-explosive
police squad car dashcam video of a white
police officer shooting a black teenager 16
times.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday spoke with
activists in a conference call and also
held meetings with pastors and activists to
discuss the forthcoming release of footage
that shows 17-year-old Laquan McDonald
being gunned down by Officer Jason Van
Dyke, a 14-year veteran of the Chicago Police
Department.
They mayor's office said that Emanuel
discussed the way forward for Chicago in the
aftermath of the release of the video, which a
Cook County Circuit judge last week ordered
the city to release by Wednesday.
Reporters weren't allowed to listen to the call
or attend the meeting with pastors. One
activist who took part in the call, Andy Thayer,
said Emanuel only spoke for a few minutes. He
said Emanuel told activists that police "have a
responsibility to uphold the law" and "must
never abuse it." Thayer said Emanuel did not
take questions, though participants were told
ahead of the call that he would.
Emanuel also addressed the possibility of
protests after the video's release and said
Chicagoans must "use their First Amendment
right, but to do it in a focused way," reports
the Chicago Tribune, which said it gained
access to the conference call through a
participant.
In comments to reporters on Monday,
Emanuel sought to tamp down speculation
that protests could become violent.
"Your job is to report the news, not to see
what events to create and then try to report
on that," Emanuel said. "Just as a caution to
the press, you have a role to play too."
For months, Emanuel resisted releasing the
the video, citing ongoing federal and state
probes into the Oct. 20, 2014 shooting death
of McDonald.The city was sued for violating
state open record law by independent
journalist Brandon Smith, and Judge Franklin
Valderrama on Thursday issued the
Wednesday deadline.
Following Valderrama's order, Emanuel said he
hoped it was enough time for prosecutors to
bring their year-long investigation of an officer
"who violated that (public) trust at every level"
to a conclusion "so Chicago can begin to
heal."
A federal law enforcement official familiar with
the investigation, who asked not to be
identified because the probe is ongoing, told
USA TODAY on Monday that it is unlikely that
the federal investigation would be completed
ahead of the release of the video footage.
Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the
Cook County State's Attorney's office, said
the state probe was ongoing. She declined to
say whether the agency's criminal
investigation would be completed prior to the
video's release.
Attorneys for McDonald's family and Van Dyke
have viewed the footage and described the
content as graphic and unsettling. Police had
said they were pursuing McDonald after
receiving a 911 call from someone who said
that a knife-wielding man had threatened him
and appeared to be trying to break into cars.
A police union official also said shortly after
the incident that McDonald, who had PCP in
his system at the time of his death, was acting
erratically and that Van Dyke felt his life was in
jeopardy.
While Van Dyke repeatedly fired at McDonald,
five other police officers at the scene did not
fire their weapons. Michael Robbins, an
attorney for the McDonald family, said that the
video shows the teen was walking away from
the officer when gunned down.
Chicago's city council in April approved a $5
million settlement be paid to the McDonald
family. Van Dyke has been stripped of his
police powers and placed on desk duty since
the incident more than a year ago.
Rev. Jedidiah Brown, a pastor and activist who
attended two meetings Emanuel held on the
video on Monday, said the mayor "still ain't
saying the right things as far as I'm
concerned."
"We told him, 'I understand you got to deal
with a bureaucracy, but we can't feel the heart
of our mayor," said Brown, who
endorsed Emanuel's reelection effort earlier
this year. He added that the mayor was told,
"We don't know if you're sorry that this
happened, or if you're sorry we're about to
find out how bad it really was."
Thayer said that Emanuel and Chicago Police
Superintendent Garry McCarthy should also be
held responsible for McDonald incident and
criticized the administration for resisting
release of the video.
The mayor, who won a second term in April,
has faced criticism from some activists for
doing too little to address distrust in the
African-American community about the police
department.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/11/23/chicago-braces-for-releases-of-laquan-mcdonald-police-shooting-video/76278892/
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