Chicago cop charged in fatal shooting has history of misconduct complaints
Officer charged with the fatal shooting of a black teenager had already accumulated 17 complaints,聽according to a University of Chicago database.
Officer charged with the fatal shooting of a black teenager had already accumulated 17 complaints,聽according to a University of Chicago database.
When Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times聽more than a year ago, it wasn't the first time that he ended up subject of internal investigation for misconduct.
Before the fatal shooting of the black teenager, Mr. Van Dyke had already accumulated at least 18 complaints in his 14 years on the force, including allegations of police brutality and using racial epithets, but he was never disciplined, according to data from the University of Chicago and the journalism non-profit Invisible Institute.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have all of Van Dyke鈥檚 complaints but 鈥� the misconduct complaints from Van Dyke that we do have in our data tool show by and large excessive force and racial slurs. And he has largely operated with impunity and under a code of silence with the same huddle of officers again and again,鈥� the Invisible Institute鈥檚 Alison Flowers told Chicago ABC affiliate WLS.
Ed Nance, one of the complainants, was awarded $350,000 by a jury after he was injured in 2007 by Van Dyke, who handcuffed him so violently during a 2007 traffic stop seriously injuring both shoulders. Nance broke into tears after he was told about the McDonald shooting, according to the Chicago Tribune.
鈥淚t just makes me so sad because it shouldn鈥檛 have happened,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e shouldn鈥檛 have been on the street in the first place after my incident.鈥�
Dyke, who is white, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder聽for the fatal shooting of McDonald, a black teenager, in October 2014.
The shooting was recorded on a police dash cam video, which Chicago police released to the public on Tuesday afternoon, on orders of a judge, despite opposition from Chicago's mayor, police, the victim's family, and some activists.
There were a major concern that the release of the video, which came as the result of a lawsuit from an independent journalist, has the potential to inspire violent protests in Chicago, making it a public safety issue, Patrik Jonsson reported for 海角大神.
Following the video's release, demonstrators took to the streets in the city鈥檚 downtown, avoiding the larger turmoil at protests in Minneapolis, Baltimore, and Ferguson, in what The New York Times calls, 鈥渢ense but largely peaceful protests鈥�.
海角大神 reports,