Top Changes in 2 Years Since Release of Laquan McDonald Shooting Video

November 26th, 2017

Awake Goy

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 fatally shot by CPD officer Jason Van Dyke sixteen times in Chicago

With Friday marking the two-year anniversary of the release of dashcam video that showed Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times, there’s much that’s changed.

As the city and its leaders have face a tidal wave of criticism, Chicago has seen and imposed wholesale revisions or reforms to many of its institutions, structures and policies.

— Hours before the video was released by order of a Cook County judge, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, then lead by Anita Alvarez, approved first-degree murder charges against Van Dyke. His case marked the first time in Chicago history that an officer was charged with murder for an on-duty shooting. The case is still working its way through the court.

Three other officers who were at the scene of the Oct. 20, 2014 shooting in the 4100 block of South Pulaski were charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and official misconduct. Several police supervisors, who deemed the shooting justified, retired. The department’s top brass at the time all saw the video within 48 hours of the shooting, and all deemed it justified.

— The video — which shows Van Dyke firing at McDonald even after he had collapsed in the middle of Pulaski — enraged much of Chicago and sparked days of protests that wove across the city. Marchers called for the resignations of Alvarez, then-CPD Supt. Garry McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, all of who were accused of sitting on the video for more than a year for political gain.

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