Family of teen shot by cop calls for changes in Chicago
CHICAGO — The family of a black teenager shot 16 times by a white Chicago police officer joined the call Friday for change in local leadership and policing in the city and nationwide, weeks after a video of the 2014 killing set off days of protests.
Laquan McDonald was shot last October by Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is charged with first-degree murder. Squad-car footage was released late last month upon a judge’s order, and protests have taken place almost daily since. Protesters allege a coverup and have called for the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.
The Rev. Marvin Hunter, who is McDonald’s great- uncle, said at a news conference Friday that “what we’re feeling in Chicago is the real feeling of America itself, and that’s injustice against people of color.” He also said there are “thousands of Laquan McDonalds.”
The McDonald family has stayed largely out of the spotlight since the video was released Nov. 24, but about a dozen of them stood behind Hunter. A few activists with them wore T-shirts that read “Rahm Failed Us.”
One notable absence was McDonald’s mother, who Hunter said is “hurting and traumatized by the constant reminder of the senseless death of her son.”
Since the video’s release, McDonald’s death became another flashpoint in the debate over gun violence and the treatment of African-Americans by the police. Protesters have turned the shooting into a rallying cry, their chants of “16 shots and a cover-up.”
The city agreed to a $5 million settlement with McDonald’s family earlier this year without a lawsuit being filed. Hunter downplayed that Friday, saying the money that really matters should come in the form of government resources to foster economic development and keep such deaths from happening. And he said he is calling for a national summit to be held in his community — one of the most dangerous in Chicago — and hoped that Presi- dent Barack Obama would dispatch someone from the White House to attend.
Chicago officials fought the release of the video, arguing that it could interfere with any resulting court case. Acting on a judge’s order, the city released it just hours after Alvarez announced charges against the officer.
Alvarez has defended the delay in bringing charges against Van Dyke, calling it a complex investigation. Emanuel apologized this week that the incident occurred under his administration. He fired the police chief and named a new head of the agency that investigates police conduct. But protests have continued.
Hunter called on Alvarez to resign but declined to demand, as other protesters have, that Emanuel step down as well. “I hold Anita Alvarez accountable,” he said.
Earlier this week, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the Department of Justice would investigate whether the Chicago Police Department’s practices violate federal and constitutional law.