City's Black Leaders Demand Firing of Chicago's Top Cop and a Justice Department Probe

Black leaders across Chicago, including aldermen and Congressman Danny Davis, are calling for Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to be fired.

Religious, civic, legal and political leaders also want a special prosecutor appointed to pursue the case against Jason Van Dyke, the 37-year-old police officer charged with first-degree murder for firing 16 shots into Laquan McDonald in October 2014, citing a lack of confidence in the state’s attorney.

They believe the city has engaged in a cover-up involving the case against Van Dyke.

“Our city is in a state of crisis. We have endured injustice for too long, and those wrongs must now be righted,” U.S. Rep. Danny Davis told the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday. “We have outlined a process and steps to be taken: A new superintendent of police. A special prosecutor to make sure justice is done. And a massive involvement and participation of people beginning Friday but not ending Friday.”

After the video went public, protests followed Tuesday night in front of police headquarters and again on Wednesday. More protests are expected in the coming days. A handful of arrests were reported on Tuesday, and four on Wednesday night. About 300 people marched through downtown between 5 p.m. and midnight. To this point, Chicago has avoided the kind of unrest visited upon Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore.

The National Bar Association, the nation’s oldest association of African-American lawyers and judges, also called for McCarthy to lose his job, as well as Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

“It is unacceptable that it took over a year to file these charges against Officer Van Dyke,” National Bar Association President Benjamin Crump wrote in a statement released Wednesday. “Not only did it take a year to file these charges, but Van Dyke was able to continue in the capacity of a police officer during this delayed investigation. The video that State Attorney Alvarez relied on to finally bring forth charges has been available since day one.

“Why did it take so long?”

The Chicago Urban League demanded the same.

“We believe CPD officers have engaged in the systemic use of excessive force and carried out a pattern of discriminatory harassment against African American residents in the city,” CEO Shari Runner said. “Furthermore, they have been dishonest about those practices, in some cases even covering up illegal activity.”

Also on Patch

• Video Shows Jason Van Dyke Shoot Laquan McDonald
• Judge Asks: Why No Protests for the Children Shot Down in Chicago’s Streets?
• Police Union Stands by Officer Charged in Murder of Teen
• Angry Protesters Flood Chicago Streets
• Poet, Four Others, Arrested After Night of Unrest
• 5 Perspectives on ‘16 Shots: The Death of Laquan McDonald’
• No Bail for Chicago Cop Charged in ‘Graphic, Violent, Chilling’ Murder
• Teen Shot 16 Times by Chicago Police a ‘Modern-Day Emmett Till’

Ald. Howard Brookins Jr., chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, told DNAinfo Chicago he intends to call for a vote of no confidence in McCarthy. In September, the Black Caucus had called for McCarthy’s ouster because of the unabated shootings and killings in black neighborhoods. Over the last two years, McCarthy has lost the confidence of black aldermen.

In his Sunday sermon, the Rev. Michael Pfleger — joined at St. Sabina Church by director Spike Lee, actors Jennifer Hudson and John Cusack, and others in the cast of Lee’s new film, “Chi-Raq,” which depicts the rampant gun violence in Chicago — suggested protesters shut down the city’s most well-known street, Michigan Avenue, before the eyes of the nation.

On Friday, a demonstration will take place on the Magnificent Mile, with protesters, led by elected officials and pastors, marching along Michigan Avenue from the Wacker Drive to the Water Tower at the same time holiday shoppers fill the streets. The march will begin at 11 a.m. Another demonstration is scheduled for the evening.

SCENE FROM WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S PROTEST

The accusations of a cover-up by the city are growing more intense, fueled not only by length of the investigation but by suspicion that Chicago Police officers deleted video footage recorded by a surveillance camera on the block where Van Dyke shot McDonald.

In May, Carol Marin and Don Moseley, reporting for NBC 5 Investigates, revealed that the district manager for Burger King, Jay Darshane, reported 86 minutes of footage recorded by a Burger King at 40th Street and Pulaski disappeared after police entered the restaurant and asked to see the camera equipment that night.

“We had no idea they were going to sit there and delete files,” Darshane told NBC. “I mean we were just trying to help the police officers.”

On Tuesday, Alvarez said investigators found no evidence of tampering and declined to answer follow-up questions on the subject.

The missing minutes, 9:13 p.m. to 10:39 p.m., encompassed the time frame of the incident on Pulaski. The location of the restaurant would not have afforded the camera a view of the shooting itself, but would have offered perspective on the events leading up to that moment. The shooting was recorded on a police vehicle dashboard camera.

As has previously been reported, McDonald was under the influence of PCP and was walking along Pulaski with a knife. Police officers were following him slowly and calling for an officer with a Taser as backup. They intended to corral him and subdue him. Van Dyke and his partner rolled up on the scene and Van Dyke immediately opened fire after stepping out of his SUV, fully emptying his clip into McDonald, firing many of the shots while McDonald was on the ground in a fetal position. McDonald did not lunge at Van Dyke or his partner, as the officer claimed, but clearly was moving away from the officers.

The video also shows that, after kicking the knife away from his body, none of the officers approached him to check on his condition. Chicago Fire Department EMTs reported that McDonald was still breathing when they took him from the scene to a hospital.

For a year, the city of Chicago fought in court to prevent the dashboard camera video from being released to the public, arguing the investigation would be jeopardized. A judge last week ruled in favor of the journalist who sought release of the recording through a FOIA request.

“Thirteen months ago, a young man was killed. Why did it take so long to make public the tape? What happened to the Burger King video? Why did those who knew about it decide to withhold it from the public?” asked the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who huddled with the black leaders Wednesday at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters. “The suppression of the tape was manipulated by somebody at the expense of others. We want a criminal investigation.”

Alvarez said the lengthy investigation was normal for a case of this magnitude, and she also attributed the length of the investigation to her collaboration with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI. She said the complexity of the case and the circumstances required her office to be “meticulous.”

While Alvarez moved forward with criminal charges against Van Dyke this week, the federal civil rights investigation is still under way.

On Wednesday night, the city released four additional dashboard camera recordings from other police vehicles on the scene in response to a Chicago Tribune FOIA request. None of the videos show the shooting. None of the videos have audio, either, other than the intermittent sound of the sirens.

Davis, Jackson, the Rev. James Meeks, who’s a former state senator and other leaders in the black community who met Wednesday hatched a strategy to put pressure on the city. They want the Justice Department to investigate whether Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who won a second term in February, tried to keep the recording from reaching the public because of the election. Members of the Black Caucus were more circumspect on that particular subject in comments to the Chicago Tribune.

The mayor said he had not previously seen the dash-cam video, however the city approved a $5 million settlement with McDonald’s family earlier this year even before the family filed a lawsuit.

On Tuesday, both the mayor and Alvarez were peppered with questions about whether City Hall had put pressure on the State’s Attorney’s Office to withhold the video. Both denied having had any discussions between them about the video.

Davis told the Sun-Times black leaders will work to unseat Alvarez in next year’s election.

The mayor on Wednesday, in a statement through his spokesperson, reaffirmed his support for the police superintendent.

“This incident is a tragedy and it’s absolutely unacceptable, but Jason Van Dyke’s actions are not representative of the Superintendent McCarthy’s values, or of the hard-working men and women of the Chicago Police Department.”

OFFICER TAUNTED: ‘SHOOT ME 16 TIMES’
warning: profanity audible in this video