Page 18 February 26, 2016
Donnell Robinson Staff Writer CHICAGO – In the wake of the police scandal that engulfed the City of Chicago after the November release of a controversial video of a white Chicago police officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, protesters continues to be staged at numerous demonstrations calling for the resignations of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, as well as for the Police Department to be open and fair. At the fourth and final meeting of Mayor Emanuel’s task force on police accountability when about 40 protesters disrupt it on Feb. 25, 2016 by taking over the stage at Sullivan High School in Rogers Park. The protesters questioned the legitimacy of both the task force and the Police Department Attempting to defuse more turmoil, Mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared before the Chicago City Council to personally apologize for the death of McDonald. "...I am sorry", fired Police Supertindent In addition the Mayor said he welcomes the Attorney General as they opened a civil pattern or practice investigation into CPD, pursuant to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. However, the outcry and Emanuel dismissing Police Chief Garry McCarthy, protestors moved to chant "impeach Rahm" "Rahm resign" and Rahm must go" as well as "too little too late." Bishop James Dukes and other African American pastors have said Emanuel should resign. “We do not want bacon and eggs; we want justice; we want reBishop James sources, we want accountability, and we want incluDukes sion,” said Dukes, a pastor who has been a familiar face at many protests rallies after the release of police dashboard camera video showing Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times in October 2014. The office of the medical examiner in Cook County-Chicago diagramed the body of Laquan McDonald. It detailed how each of the 16 bullets entered and exited the body - the head, the shoulders, the torso, the neck, and the arms. The autopsy diagram made the teen seem like a type of target practice for Officer Jason Van Dyke. Fourteen months after the death of McDonald, Van Dyke, was charged with first degree murder in the fatal shooting. Alavarez did not charge Officer Van Dyke until she knew that the video would be released due to a cook county circuit court order. The city fought to conceal the video, contesting the Freedom of Information Act lawsuits by independent journalists, by the Wall Street Journal and by the Chicago Tribune. The mayor pushed the City Council to vote for a $5 million settlement to the McDonald family before they had even filed a lawsuit. The settlement apparently included an agreement to keep the video secret.
Ask for a Receipt when being stopped and frisk by Chicago Police Department? A number of aldermen have stated that they were either mis-led or lied to by the City's Corporation Counsel. A judge set bail at $1.5 million after prosecutors charged him. Following the arrest the city released dash cam videos a result of a court order that shows the teen, being shot by Van Dyke. State Representatives LaShawn K. Ford and Mary E. Flowers introduced legislation (HB4356) that would create a process for the Recall of the Mayor of Chicago. However, Paul McKinney, questioned the House Bill saying the bill would not apply to Mayor Emuaell second term. The Mayor stated that he did not see a video that he so fought to repress; but has not stated that he was not aware of the video's content; The mayor says this was the act of one bad police officer who will now face a jury of his peers. Joining the protester, Jesse Jackson of RainbowPUSH proclaimed "This is not simply a case of one bad cop. Nine police officers were on the scene, yet not one reported the police violence. Instead, a police union spokesman alleged that McDonald lunged at the police with a knife. That false statement went unchallenged. Why?"
First year Aldermen David Moore (17) and Carlos Ramirez -Rosa (35) hold news conference calling for expanded investigations of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration and its knowledge of the Laquan McDonald case. The investigations also would include a hearing before the Chicago City Council.
IPRA cannot interview the officers involved in this incident while the federal and state criminal matters are pending. The department's investigation of CPD will seek to determine whether there are systemic violations of the Constitution or federal law by officers of CPD. The investigation will focus on CPD's use of force, including racial, ethnic and other disparities in use of force, and its systems of accountability." (Taken directly from a DOJ Press Statement) But this is not nearly enough according to COAL that the Department of Justice opens an investigation into whether or not there was a cover up of this crime at the highest levels of Mayor Emanuel's administration representing suppression of evidence of a crime and obstruction of Ccoalition Of African justice. American Leaders (COAL) COAL calls on the applauds Attorney General Department of Justice to Loretta Lynch's positive specifically investigate the response to the many preponderance of evidence requests, including COAL's, that points to a cover up of to have the Department of the McDonald murder for Justice investigate the political purposes. murder of McDonald and its The Mayor and his implication of a CPD culture administration fought the that does not serve and release of the video - at the protect all citizens of this height of a municipal City in a fair and equitable election for Mayor and manner and one that does Aldermen. not respect the civil rights of Lorenzo Davis. He was wrongfully C o o k C o u n t y all residents, nor the value terminated for refusing to change his Commissioner Richard of black lives. findings that several Chicago Police Boykin (D- 1st District) in The Justice Department is shootings were not justifiable. the civil rights crisis that currently reviewing the has enveloped the City of Chicago, the police videos, including the Burger King video, and the statements made by officers as part of their department is only 1/3 of the equation. criminal investigation. Once they complete Therefore, a federal investigation must include their investigation, they will resume their a complete account of what the Mayor knew administrative investigation whether to and when he knew it. And it must also look consider discipline, including termination that into the actions by the State's Attorney that would be appropriate for any officers who caused Officer Van Dyke to escape responded to the incident or participated in prosecution for months." “It appears that there was no investigation preparing the case report. In the meantime, the
"A Case for Investigating the Cover Up"
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CHICAGO (CBS) – A new study by the American Civil Liberties Union has revealed Chicago police are among the nation’s leaders in the use of the controversial “stop-and-frisk” practice, leading even New York. Until the mayor and courts put a stop to it, New York was known for its aggressive stop-and-frisk tactics, in which police officers stop and question a pedestrian, and frisk him or her for weapons or other contraband. Now, according to the ACLU, Chicago police officers are doing the same thing on a routine basis. According to a report the ACLU will unveil Monday, Chicago police made 250,000 stops that did not lead to an arrest last from May to August last year – more than four times the number in New York during the height of its use of the stops, during the same four months in 2011. “You’re stopping and frisking a lot of innocent people, with very little productive outcome,” said ACLU Illinois legal director Harvey Grossman. into the Burger King manager's strong claim that CPD officers deleted 81 minutes of facility video of events surrounding the killing of McDonald” said Craig Washington a leader of COAL. In a press release submitted by CPD early 2015 summer, after the Baltimore and Ferguson riots, leaders of varying ranks began meeting with residents as the Department officially launched a neighborhood outreach tour to gather feedback and foster ongoing dialogue necessary to build and sustain trust with communities throughout the city, mainly, the Black community. Department members of all ranks, from CAPS officers to the Superintendent, started participating in outreach sessions that were held well into the (Continued on page 19)