3 police officers indicted in Laquan McDonald case

CHICAGO » Three Chicago police officers were indicted Tuesday on felony charges that they conspired to cover up the actions of a white police officer who shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, saying the officers lied when they alleged the teenager “aggressively” swung a knife at officers and attempted to get up from the ground still armed with the knife after he was shot.

In an indictment announced Tuesday, a Cook County grand jury alleges that one current and two former officers lied about the events of Oct. 20, 2014, when Officer Jason Van Dyke shot the black teenager 16 times.

The officers’ narratives contradict what can be seen on police dashcam video, in which the teenager spins after he was shot and falls to the ground — seemingly incapacitated — as the officer continues to fire shot after shot into his body. The indictment further alleges that officers lied when they said McDonald ignored Van Dyke’s verbal commands and that one of the officers reviewed a report that claimed the other two officers were, in fact, victims of an attack by McDonald.

“The co-conspirators created police reports in the critical early hours and days following the killing of Laquan McDonald that contained important false information,” says the indictment in which the three are charged with felony counts of obstruction of justice, official misconduct and conspiracy.

The indictments mark the latest chapter in what has been one of the most troubling stories in the history of a police force dogged by allegations of racism, brutality and the protection of police officers who brutalize African Americans. The video sparked massive protests, cost the police superintendent his job and left the city scrambling to implement reforms to regain shattered public trust.

In January, the Department of Justice, issued a scathing report that found, among other things, that the department had violated the constitutional rights of residents for years, including by too often using excessive force and killing suspects who posed no threat.