Feds to Probe Chicago Police

The Justice Department gets involved
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 6, 2015 4:10 PM CST
Feds to Probe Chicago Police
In this Oct. 20, 2014 frame from dash-cam video provided by the Chicago Police Department, Laquan McDonald, right, walks down the street moments before being shot by officer Jason Van Dyke in Chicago.   (Chicago Police Department via AP, File)

The Justice Department is expected to announce this week a civil rights investigation of the Chicago Police Department similar to probes of police departments in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri. The decision to investigate was confirmed to the AP by a person familiar with the decision who wasn't authorized to discuss the investigation publicly because it has not yet been announced. The investigation would come as the police force is under intense scrutiny since the recent release of a video showing white police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times. Prosecutors have charged Van-Dyke with first-degree murder in the 2014 shooting and Mayor Rahm Emanuel forced Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign.

Meanwhile, about 200 protesters demonstrated today in downtown Chicago following the release of documents showing that police officers' accounts of the 2014 killing of a black teen differed greatly from what was captured on dashcam video. The Rev. Jesse Jackson says he hopes the sight of protesters holding a disciplined and non-violent march will prompt the city to "dispense justice and fairness all across the city." The protesters walking in the business district known as The Loop were counting to 16 to signify the number of times that Officer Jason Van Dyke shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. They also called for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign. Police fought for months to keep the public from seeing the dashcam video but released it last month facing a court deadline and only hours after Van Dyke was charged with murder. (More Justice Department stories.)

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