Federal Grand Jury Heard Evidence of 'Deleted' Video in Police Shooting

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has taken evidence in Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke’s killing of Laquan McDonald before a federal grand jury, including testimony about police officers deleting 86 minutes of surveillance camera footage of the crime scene.

Jay Darshane, a district manager for Burger King, told the Chicago Tribune he testified before the grand jury earlier this year about the missing video, and he believes police deleted the files.

Van Dyke, 37, was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday, more than a year after the killing. Held without bail, he’s due back in court Monday. On Wednesday, the city released a police video that shows Van Dyke firing his weapon, McDonald falling to the pavement, and Van Dyke firing more shots as McDonald was curled up on the ground.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed Wednesday in a statement that its investigation of the shooting remains open and active.

Darshane, who oversees several restaurants, told NBC 5 Investigates earlier this year how police officers entered the restaurant on South Pulaski and asked to review video on the password-protected system. Darshane said four or five officers in white and blue uniforms entered the restaurant. Darshane was called at home, and he told the restaurant manager to give police the security code to access the system.

“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.”

The officers spent about two hours inside the store. Video surveillance in the store shows officers reviewing sections of video repeatedly.

Darshane told the Chicago Tribune a Burger King technician was unable to resurrect the missing video files. Darshane confirmed the technical support employee also testified before the federal grand jury.

The day after the shooting, the Illinois Police Review Authority arrived and asked to make a copy of the footage. That’s when Burger King discovered the 86-minute gap, from 9:13 p.m. to 10:39 p.m. Within weeks, all of the evidence was turned over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, which began investigating in partnership with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

At a press conference on Tuesday, in response to questions from NBC 5’s Carol Marin, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said her investigation found no evidence of tampering with Burger King’s surveillance system.

“Forensic testing was done on the Burger King surveillance system to determine if anyone tampered with the evidence and the testing did not reveal any such evidence,” Alvarez said, declining to identify the agency that tested the system

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy at a subsequent press conference said there were “technical difficulties” with the Burger King video but nothing was deleted.

Darshane, however, said all of the company’s video security cameras and equipment were functioning properly.

Activists and critics of the police department, including some elected officials, believe the district manager’s assertion that 86 minutes of video was deleted from his system supports claims that police officers attempted a cover-up involving Van Dyke’s shooting of McDonald.

Other video evidence subsequently released directly contradicts Van Dyke’s explanation of the shooting and the police department’s public statements at the time.

SHOOTING OF LAQUAN McDONALD: Viewer Discretion Advised

The restaurant, in the 4000 block of South Pulaski, is on the same block where the shooting took place, about 100 yards away.

The restaurant’s security cameras could have provided footage of McDonald’s and the police officers’ activity prior to the shooting, which included McDonald walking down the middle of the street and puncturing tires on a police vehicle with a 4-inch knife. The video also could have shown police activity after the shooting, which allegedly includes police officers shooing away witnesses instead of interviewing them.

Police pursued McDonald, keeping a safe distance as they requested an officer with a Taser to come to the scene. None of the eight officers eventually on the scene carried a Taser. When Van Dyke and his partner arrived on the scene, Van Dyke left his police SUV and within seconds began firing at McDonald, who was 12 to 15 feet away from him and his partner and moving away from them.

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