Officers indicted in teen’s death

3 allegedly lied for white officer who shot black teen.

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 street 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 being shot and falls to the street — 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 charging the three 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 regain shattered public trust.

The U.S. Justice Department issued a scathing report that, among other things, found 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.

Around the country, there are renewed questions whether the legal system is willing to punish officers, particularly after this month’s acquittal of a police officer charged in the killing of a black motorist in Minnesota and mistrials in Cincinnati and Milwaukee, where juries could not agree on whether to convict officers in the shootings of blacks that were captured by video.

Patricia Brown Holmes — appointed special prosecutor last July to investigate officers at the scene and involved in the investigation of the shooting — said in a news release that the three — David March, Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney — “coordinated their activities to protect each other and other members of the Chicago Police Department,” including by filing false reports, ignoring evidence and not attempting to interview keys witnesses.