3 Chicago cops face conspiracy charges

Three current or former Chicago Police officers have been indicted on state charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct related to the investigation of the fatal police-involved shooting death of Laquan McDonald, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

A Cook County special grand jury filed the charges against Detective David March and officers Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney for actions they took in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of McDonald, 17, in 2014.

“The indictment makes clear that these defendants did more than merely obey an unofficial ‘code of silence,’ rather it alleges that they lied about what occurred to prevent independent criminal investigators from learning the truth,” said Patricia Brown Holmes, the Cook County special prosecutor.

Officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with murder in November 2015 on the same day the city of Chicago released chilling dashcam video that showed the officer firing 16 shots at McDonald, who was armed with a small knife and appeared to be running away from police. He is currently awaiting trial.

A grand jury has been weighing for months whether some of Van Dyke’s fellow officers at the scene of the shooting should also be indicted.

Several officers at the scene told investigators after the shooting that McDonald ignored repeated calls from Van Dyke to drop the knife, putting the officers in danger.

The three officers are scheduled to be arraigned on July 10.