Protests Continue Following Release Of Laquan McDonald Shooting Video
Protests continued in Chicago Wednesday following the release of a dash-cam video documenting the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014.
After protestors marched on the city's West and South sides Tuesday, demonstrations were slated for Wednesday in front of City Hall; and on Michigan Avenue, a roadway leading to the city's primary shopping district.
Officials took more than a year to make public the footage of the deadly incident — in which McDonald was fired upon 16 times — in wanting to avoid the unrest seen in Ferguson, Missouri or Baltimore in the wake of racially-charged police incidents there.
In the clip, which had no sound, McDonald (who is black) is seen walking on a four-lane street as police are parked in the middle. McDonald is seen running, then slows down, at which point two policemen get out of their car and pull out their guns, with one — Officer Jason Van Dyke — opening fire on the teen, who spins and falls down after being struck. Van Dyke continued to pull the trigger on the felled teen (with smoke visible billowing up from his body) until kicking an object (authorities later identified as a knife) out of the McDonald's hand.
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Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder in the incident after a probe that lasted more than a year, called the video "graphic," "violent" and "chilling."
Alvarez said that "to watch a 17-year-old young man die in such a violent manner is deeply disturbing," noting that Van Dyke began shooting just six seconds after he got out of the car, and didn't stop even after McDonald was down on the ground.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that the release of the tape represents a "moment of understanding and learning," and that citizens of the Windy City will "have to make an important judgment about our city and ourselves and go forward."
The city of Chicago paid McDonald's family a settlement of $5 million in the incident in April.
Van Dyke remains in custody with no bond.