Police union hires officer facing trial in fatal shooting
In Chicago, activists express outrage; union backs white officer’s hiring as janitor
The city’s police union has hired the cop facing first-degree murder charges in the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald to work as a janitor.
Jason Van Dyke, who was charged in November for the incident that set off weeks of protests in the city, will be paid $12 per hour. News of the hiring by the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, which was first reported by WFLD-TV in Chicago, has spurred outrage from activists in the city.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest and prominent activist on the city’s South Side, called the move by the union “a disgrace” and a setback for efforts to restore the fraught relations between the police department and the African-American community.
“The Police Union says to Chicago ... we don’t give a damn what he did, what you think, he is one of ours, and we are going to take care of him,” Pfleger wrote on his Facebook page.
The union has shown support for Van Dyke since he was charged on the same day the city was forced by court order to release chilling dashcam video that showed Van Dyke, who is white, fire 16 shots at the black teen. Van Dyke was charged 400 days after the incident.
Van Dyke opened fire within seconds of arriving on the scene, saying that he feared for his life. At least five police officers at the scene backed up Van Dyke in offi- cial police statements following the shooting, according to investigative documents released by the city. Van Dyke told investigators that McDonald was moving toward him when he started firing. The dashcam video, however, appears to show McDonald moving away from Van Dyke when the officer opened fire.
Van Dyke was suspended without pay. The officer’s attorney, Dan Herbert, had said that Van Dyke was having trouble finding work since the incident.
Van Dyke, who has pleaded not guilty, is free on bail awaiting trial. He began working nights at FOP headquarters about three weeks ago.
Dean Angelo Sr., the union president, defended the hiring.
“We do this for our membership and this is what the FOP stands for, fraternalism,” Angelo told WFLD. “This officer is in a very difficult situation financially; he has a family and we would do it for anybody that works as a Chicago Police officer.”