3 cops ‘covered’ up teen shooting

Chicago, June 28: Three current and former Chicago police officers were indicted on Tuesday on felony charges for conspiring to cover up the shooting death of a black teenager by a white officer, prosecutors said.

The indictments stem from a 2014 incident in which Laquan McDonald, 17, was shot to death. A video of the shooting, released in 2015, sparked days of protests and thrust Chicago into a national debate over the use of excessive force by police against minorities.

Detective David March and officers Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney were each charged with conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice, the special prosecutor, Patricia Brown Holmes, said.

“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,” Holmes said.

A police union spokesman declined to comment. It was not immediately known if March, Walsh and Gaffney had hired attorneys. A lawyer for the McDonald family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

All three officers were on scene the night of the shooting. The police said Walsh and March are no longer with the force and that Gaffney will be suspended without pay.