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Showing posts with label Laquan McDonald. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laquan McDonald. Show all posts

Saturday, September 16, 2017

FREDDIE GRAY, SANDRA BLAND, LAQUAN MCDONALD, MICHAEL BROWN, PHILANDO CASTILE, TAMAR RICE; "WE ONLY KILL BLACK PEOPLE" (LATINO LEADERS SILENT)













FREDDIE GRAY, SANDRA BLAND, LAQUAN MCDONALD, MICHAEL BROWN, PHILANDO CASTILE, TAMAR RICE; "WE ONLY KILL BLACK PEOPLE" (LATINO LEADERS SILENT):

THESE HIGH PROFILE MURDERS OF BLACK PEOPLE TOOK PLACE UNDER OBAMA BUT I'M NOT BLAMING OBAMA.

HISPANIC LEADERS REMAIN SILENT WHEN BLACK PEOPLE ARE KILLED BY POLICE.

IS CONGRESS AND THE ILLUMINATI TRYING TO REPLACE BLACK PEOPLE (BLACK MEN) WITH HISPANICS??

BLACK LEADERS HAVE SOLD OUT BLACK VOTERS.


Sources: AP, LA Times, Yahoo News, Vanity Fair, Washington Times, Youtube



****** A look at high-profile Police-related deaths of U.S. Blacks


A former St. Louis police officer was acquitted Friday in the fatal shooting of a drug suspect following a chase.

Jason Stockley was charged with first-degree murder in the 2011 death of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. Testimony in the trial ended Aug. 9, but Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson weighed evidence for more than a month before ruling.

Stockley and his partner sought to question Smith after observing what appeared to be a drug deal on a fast-food restaurant parking lot. Smith drove away, prompting a chase.

Stockley shot into Smith's car five times after the chase. He testified Smith was moving his hand toward an area of the seat where a gun was found. But prosecutors said Stockley planted the gun.

Stockley is white and Smith was black. The case is among several across the United States in recent years that have increased debate about race and policing. Here are some other high-profile deaths of blacks during police encounters:

___

FREDDIE GRAY

The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday it won't bring federal civil rights charges against six Baltimore officers involved in the arrest and in-custody death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose death touched off weeks of protests. Gray was shackled but alive when he was put in a Baltimore police van in April 2015. He came out with severe neck injuries. Six officers were charged initially, but prosecutors in July 2016 dropped all remaining charges after acquittals and a hung jury. Gray's family agreed to a $6.4 million settlement with the city in September 2015.

___

LAQUAN MCDONALD

Chicago officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in November 2015, on the same day that the city, under a judge's orders, released dashcam video showing 17-year-old McDonald being shot 16 times on Oct. 20, 2014. Van Dyke, who is white, has pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department determined in January that Chicago police have a long history of civil rights violations and excessive force. A Cook County grand jury looking into allegations of a cover-up is weighing further indictments in the case, the Chicago Sun Times reported in August.

___

KEITH LAMONT SCOTT

A split review board announced in August that it won't challenge a police department's finding that its officer was justified in the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2016. The board split 4-4 after reviewing the internal police probe. The board will issue confidential recommendations for policy changes. The shooting provoked several days of unrest, resulting in a death, dozens of arrests and millions of dollars in damage.

___

SAM DUBOSE

A judge in July dismissed charges against Ray Tensing, a white former University of Cincinnati officer who fatally shot Sam DuBose, an unarmed black motorist, during a 2015 traffic stop. The judge's decision came after a prosecutor declined to pursue a third murder trial; the first two ended in hung juries. Tensing has said he feared he could be dragged or run over as DuBose tried to drive away. The university fired Tensing, restructured its public safety department and reached a $5.3 million settlement that includes free undergraduate tuition for DuBose's 13 children.

___

SYLVILLE SMITH

A jury in June acquitted former Milwaukee officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is black, of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Sylville Smith in 2016. The shooting ignited rioting in the city. Smith was shot following a traffic stop. Police say Smith ran away holding a gun. Prosecutors say Smith fell and Heaggan-Brown shot him once in the arm as he was getting up, still holding the weapon while facing the officer. They say Heaggan-Brown's second shot came after Smith had thrown his gun over a fence. Heaggan-Brown, 25, said he thought Smith was reaching for another gun in his waistband when he fired again.

___

PHILANDO CASTILE

St. Anthony, Minnesota, officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter in June in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile, a black motorist who had just informed the officer that he was carrying a gun. The case in suburban St. Paul garnered immediate attention because Castile's girlfriend streamed the aftermath live on Facebook. Yanez testified that Castile was pulling his gun out of his pocket despite his commands not to do so.

___

JORDAN EDWARDS

Roy Oliver, a white police officer in suburban Dallas, was fired and is charged with murder in the fatal shooting in April of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. The U.S. Department of Justice also is investigating. Oliver fired a rifle at a car full of teenagers leaving a party, striking Edwards, who was a passenger in the vehicle. Balch Springs, Texas, police had originally said the vehicle was reversing "in an aggressive manner" toward officers, but police Chief Jonathan Haber later said video taken at the scene proved the vehicle was actually driving away. Oliver is free on bond.

___

TERENCE CRUTCHER

An Oklahoma jury in May found white Tulsa police officer Betty Jo Shelby not guilty of first-degree manslaughter in the 2016 death of Terence Crutcher, 40, who was shot shortly after Shelby arrived to find Crutcher's SUV stopped in the middle of the road. Shelby testified that she was afraid because Crutcher didn't obey her commands and appeared to reach inside his vehicle. Prosecutors told jurors that Shelby overreacted, noting that videos from a patrol car dashboard and a police helicopter showed Crutcher had his hands in the air and did not have a weapon.

___

ALTON STERLING

Federal prosecutors announced in May they would not seek charges against two white police officers who were involved in a deadly encounter with Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last summer. Sterling, 37, was shot to death on July 5, 2016, as the officers pinned him to the pavement outside a convenience store where he had been selling CDs. The killing was captured on cellphone video and circulated widely online, sparking demonstrations across Baton Rouge. U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson said Sterling was armed during the confrontation and the investigation didn't find enough evidence to pursue charges. State authorities are investigating whether to bring charges.

___

JAMAR CLARK

Jamar Clark's November 2015 shooting death sparked weeks of protests in Minneapolis. Two white officers, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, were trying to arrest the 24-year-old when he was shot once in the head. He died a day later. Some witnesses said Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, but federal and state probes concluded that he was not. Investigators said Ringgenberg felt Clark's hand trying to grab his weapon and shouted to Schwarze, who then shot Clark. Prosecutors decided not to charge either officer, and an internal police investigation cleared them.

___

JEREMY MCDOLE

Jeremy McDole, 28, was sitting in his wheelchair when he was shot and killed in September 2015 in Wilmington, Delaware, after police received a 911 call about a man with a gun. A bystander's cellphone footage showed officers repeatedly telling McDole to drop his weapon and raise his hands, with McDole reaching for his waist area before shots erupted. The Delaware attorney general's office decided not to criminally charge four Wilmington police officers involved. A federal judge approved the city's $1.5 million settlement with McDole's family.

___

WILLIAM CHAPMAN II

Former Portsmouth, Virginia, police officer Stephen Rankin was sentenced last October to 2½ years in prison for fatally shooting William Chapman II while responding to a shoplifting call outside a Walmart on April 22, 2015. Prosecutors allege Rankin killed the unarmed 18-year-old "willfully, deliberately and with premeditation." Some witnesses said Chapman was combative, and one said he knocked away Rankin's stun gun. Rankin, who is white, was fired.

___

WALTER SCOTT

Prosecutors are recommending decades in prison for white South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, who shot Walter Scott in the back as the motorist fled following a traffic stop. Slager pleaded guilty in May to a federal charge of violating Scott's civil rights. A judge will determine his sentence, which could range from probation to life in prison without parole. Scott's shooting in April 2015 was captured on cellphone video and seen worldwide.

___

ERIC HARRIS

Former Tulsa County volunteer sheriff's deputy Robert Bates, 74, was sentenced in 2016 to four years in prison for second-degree manslaughter in the April 2015 death of Eric Harris, 44, who was unarmed and restrained. Bates, who is white, has said he confused his stun gun with his handgun. That shooting led to the temporary suspension of the reserve deputy program after a report found poor training of the volunteer officers, a lack of oversight, and cronyism. Bates is appealing his conviction.

___

TAMIR RICE

Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot by a white Cleveland police officer in a recreational area in November 2014. Officers were responding to a report of a man waving a gun. The boy had a pellet gun tucked in his waistband and was shot after the officers' cruiser skidded to a stop, just feet away. A grand jury in December 2015 declined to indict patrolman Timothy Loehmann, who fired the fatal shot, and training officer Frank Garmback. The city settled Rice's family's lawsuit for $6 million. Cleveland in May fired Loehmann and suspended Garmback for 10 days. The officers' union called the discipline politically motivated.

___

AKAI GURLEY

Rookie New York City police officer Peter Liang was convicted of manslaughter last year in the November 2014 death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley. Liang, an American of Chinese descent, said he was patrolling a public housing high-rise with his gun drawn when a sound startled him and he fired accidentally. A bullet ricocheted off a wall, hitting Gurley. A judge reduced the conviction to negligent homicide and sentenced Liang to five years' probation and 800 hours of community service. The city settled with Gurley's family for $4.1 million.

___

MICHAEL BROWN

Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was fatally shot by a white officer, Darren Wilson, in August 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department opted against civil rights charges. Wilson later resigned. The death of Brown led to months of sometimes-violent protests and became a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement.

___

JOHN CRAWFORD III

Police in the Dayton, Ohio, suburb of Beavercreek responded to a Walmart store in August 2014 on a call of a man waving an apparent rifle. A white officer fatally shot John Crawford III, 22, who was carrying what turned out to be an air rifle from a store shelf. Police said they believed it was a real gun and that he didn't respond to their commands to put it down. A grand jury declined to indict the officers. The U.S. Justice Department said it was reviewing the case, and an attorney for Crawford's family has filed a federal lawsuit.

___

ERIC GARNER

Eric Garner, 43, died in July 2014 in New York City after a white officer placed him in a chokehold during an arrest for selling loose cigarettes. A grand jury declined to indict that officer, or any others involved in the arrest. The city agreed to pay a $6 million civil settlement.

___

REKIA BOYD
Chicago police officer Dante Servin resigned in May 2016 after the police superintendent said he should be fired for killing Rekia Boyd four years earlier. Servin was off duty when he shot the 22-year-old unarmed woman. She had been walking down a street with her friends when he told them to be quiet, and he fired when he thought he saw a gun. Prosecutors charged Servin with involuntary manslaughter; a judge acquitted him in April 2016, saying he'd been improperly charged. The city settled a wrongful-death lawsuit in 2013 with Boyd's family for $4.5 million.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

DANIEL HOTZCLAW'S REIGN OF TERROR ENDS: BLACK WOMEN MATTER IN 2016






#‎danielholtzclaw‬

DANIEL HOTZCLAW'S REIGN OF TERROR ENDS:

BLACK WOMEN MATTER IN 2016.

WHAT TOOK SO LONG??

~ Victims describe assaults by convicted ex-Oklahoma City cop Daniel Holtzclaw

One of the women assaulted by former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw said she feared for her life when he pulled her over last year and forced her to perform a sex act on him.

"In my mind, all I could think of was he was going to shoot me, he was going to kill me," Jannie Ligons told reporters at a news conference Friday. "I kept begging, 'Sir, don't make me do this, don't make me do this, sir. Please. You're going to shoot me.'

"All I could see was my life flashing before my eyes and the holster on his right side," said Ligons, a grandmother whose daughters stood beside her.

Holtzclaw told her he wasn't going to shoot her, but he made her perform oral sodomy in June 2014, Ligons said.

"All I can say is I was a victim, I was traumatized, I went to therapy, I had a stroke behind this," she said.
"I was innocent, and he just picked the wrong lady to stop that night," she added.

Ligons later went to police and media outlets with the first complaint against Holtzclaw, she said. Investigators later found a total of 13 alleged victims, all African-American.

She was also one of two victims who addressed the media a day after a jury found Holtzclaw guilty of 18 of the 36 charges he faced, including four counts of rape in the first degree and four counts of forced oral sodomy.

Ligons has a pending federal civil lawsuit against Holtzclaw and the city of Oklahoma City, filed on behalf of several victims.

She accused Holtzclaw of sexual assault and violating her state constitutional rights, and accused the city of negligence.

Raped while handcuffed to bed

Shandegreon "Sade" Hill told reporters that Holtzclaw pulled her over in December 2013, and she was later taken to a hospital on the other side of town. Once there, Holtzclaw raped her while she was handcuffed to a hospital bed.

"No nurses, nobody came to check on me," Hill said. "Me being in the room with the police, not expecting to get violated the way I did, the way I was done, I just couldn't even believe it. I was speechless. I was scared.

"I felt like I was in survivor mode, so I had to do what he was making me do," Hill added, with her parents beside her.

Hill has filed a state civil lawsuit against Holtzclaw and Oklahoma City. She came forward as a victim after reading a news item about Holtzclaw on Facebook last year, she said.

'Where is the national outcry for their justice?'

The jury deliberated for more than 40 hours before reaching its verdict late Thursday.

For about six months, Holtzclaw preyed on women -- all African-American -- in one of Oklahoma's poorest neighborhoods, exploiting his police badge to intimidate them into keeping quiet.

Prosecutors say the Oklahoma City officer selected his victims based on their criminal histories, figuring their drug or prostitution records would undermine any claims they might make against him.

Then, he would subject them to assaults that escalated from groping to oral sodomy and rape.

On Thursday, his 29th birthday, Holtzclaw rocked back and forth in his chair, sobbing, as the judge read the verdict.

On Friday, Holtzclaw was under suicide watch in the Oklahoma County jail, and a sheriff's deputy or detention officer was sitting outside his cell to monitor him, Sheriff John Whetsel told CNN affiliate KFOR.

Attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing some of the victims in civil litigation against the city, criticized the national media for not covering the trial in which the victims were "poor, black women."

"Where is the national outcry for their justice?" asked Crump, who has also represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Martin, a black teenager, was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in Florida. Zimmerman was acquitted of murder charges in 2013.

Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.

Crump said other women had earlier called police about Holtzclaw, so "we need to find out how aggressive they (police) were" in their investigation.

Oklahoma City NAACP President Garland Pruitt said is waiting until Holtzclaw's sentencing in January to see if justice will be served. He said "the system has a reputation of not being fair."

"Don't let this be the only time that you come forward when people of color confront you with a situation that is not always favorable to your so-called dialect," Pruitt told the media.

More than 250 years of prison recommended

The jurors recommended a total of 263 years of prison time for Holtzclaw's crimes. Formal sentencing is set for next month.

"We're going to ask the judge to make sure that this defendant never sees the light of day," District Attorney David Prater said. "And we're going to ask him to run consecutive, every count."

Holtzclaw was a former star linebacker on the Eastern Michigan University football team with a degree in criminal justice.

His ruthless scheme started to unravel after one woman told authorities he had assaulted her during a traffic stop in June 2014.

In the months that followed, investigators pieced together the horrifying scale of his pattern of abuse.

He was fired from the force in January after an internal investigation.

"Your offenses committed against women in our community constitute the greatest abuse of police authority I have witnessed in my 37 years as a member of this agency," Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty wrote in the termination letter, according to CNN affiliate KFOR.

Holtzclaw's trial began in early November and was criticized by activists after an all-white jury was chosen to decide on crimes committed against black women. Protesters repeatedly gathered outside.

Holtzclaw, whose father is white and mother is Japanese, is identified as "Asian or Pacific Islander" by court records.

17-year-old raped on mother's porch

Thirteen women accusing him of sexual assault testified in the trial.

"I didn't think anyone would believe me. I'm a black female," one accuser said in court, according to The Oklahoman newspaper. Another said Holtzclaw told her would get rid of a drug charge against her if she cooperated with him.

The assaults took place in range of places, including in his police car. One young woman, only 17 at the time, was raped on her mother's front porch.

"He didn't choose CEOs or soccer moms; he chose women he could count on not telling what he was doing," the prosecution said in its closing statement this week.

The defense questioned the credibility of Holtzclaw's accusers, arguing some of them were high when the purported assaults took place. It also challenged the validity of DNA evidence.

Prater, the district attorney, said that the jurors' decision not to convict the former police officer on half of the counts against him didn't necessarily mean they didn't believe some of the women.

"It may mean that we didn't meet our burden (of proof) in those counts," he said.

Police department: 'Justice was served'

Holtzclaw, whose father is a police lieutenant on another force, waived his right to testify.

The Oklahoma City Police Department welcomed the verdict against its former employee.

"We are satisfied with the jury's decision and firmly believe justice was served," it said.

Some women gathered outside the Oklahoma County Courthouse celebrated Holtzclaw's conviction by mockingly singing "Happy Birthday," KFOR reported.

But others, including one of the victims' mothers, said they were waiting for the formal sentencing before deciding whether justice had been done.

Post Sources: CNN, LA Times, YouTube

LORETTA LYNCH FIGHTS TO PROTECT MUSLIMS, SILENT ON LAQUAN MCDONALD CASE:




#‎LorettaLynch‬

LORETTA LYNCH FIGHTS TO PROTECT MUSLIMS, SILENT ON LAQUAN MCDONALD CASE:

 Following the Mass Shooting incident in San Bernardino, California by two Radical Islamist Extremists who were confirmed supporters of ISIL, U.S. Attorney General LORETTA LYNCH (North Carolina native) has come out swinging to protect the Civil Liberties of MUSLIM citizens living on American Soil.

So now Mrs Lynch wants to PROSECUTE or Target any American citizen who calls out ISIL'S brutal acts being committed on American soil because she doesn't want MUSLIMS living on American soil to be Offended, or to feel uncomfortable.

Does anyone recall Mrs Lynch publicly speaking out about a political Cover-up in the LAQUAN MCDONALD murder case over in Chicago??

While it's true the Media announced that a Federal Investigation will be launched in the Laquan McDonald case, Mrs Lynch has NOT personally commented on this covered up tragedy.

Yet she publicly declared with righteous indignation, to PROSECUTE any American citizen who calls out ISIL'S brutal acts being committed on American soil by Extremists.

Please make note of this.

~ Department of Justice Will Go After Anti-Muslim Hate Speech

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch pledged that the Department of Justice will go after hate speech that might incite violence against the Muslim community, she told a crowd of Muslim-Americans and supporters Thursday night.

“Obviously this is a country that is based on free speech,” Lynch told the audience at the Muslim Advocates dinner in Arlington, VA. “But when that edges towards violence…we will take action.”

Muslim Advocates, a legal advocacy group, asked Lynch to address concerns about an uptick in anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate crimes.

Since 9/11, Lynch says that the Department of Justice has investigated more than 11,000 acts of anti-Muslim rhetoric, which have led to 45 prosecutions. “I think sadly, that number is going to rise,” said Lynch.
Farhana Khera, Director of Muslim Advocates, told ABC News that the organization and 46 others, including the Presbyterian and American Baptist churches, sent a letter in late September to the RNC and DNC expressing concern over “divisive rhetoric being used by some presidential candidates.”

Khera said the inflammatory language towards Muslims on the campaign trail has persisted. Only the DNC responded to the letter.

In recent weeks, Donald Trump advocated for a national registry of Muslim Americans -- which he later denied -- and claimed that Muslims in New Jersey celebrated after the September 11 attacks.

“The demagoguery has to stop,” Muslim American Congressman Andre Carson (D-IN), who introduced Lynch, told ABC News. Carson said that public figures make these remarks because they “get affirmation from being provocative.”

But Lynch says that language generates fear.

“When you feel that fear, that sense of lack of control, and the inability to do something about it, you start to spin and try to find ways that you think will be the easy fix…anti-Muslim rhetoric becomes that path,” said Lynch. “We also will not give into fear.”

Post Sources: ABC News, YouTube

Sunday, November 29, 2015

JESSE JACKSON CALLS FOR CHICAGO POLICE DEPT SHAKE-UP (2016 POLITICS)






#‎JesseJackson‬

JESSE JACKSON CALLS FOR CHICAGO POLICE DEPT SHAKE-UP:

WHAT ABOUT MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL?


Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson on Saturday joined a chorus calling for Chicago's police superintendent and a top prosecutor to resign for the way they handled last year's fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer.

More than a year after the October 2014 shooting, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez this week announced a murder charge against Officer Jason Van Dyke in the slaying of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

Hours later, the Chicago Police Department, headed by Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, released a graphic video of the shooting to comply with a court order.

Van Dyke's lawyer has said the officer opened fire because he feared for his life and the lives of other police officers when he saw McDonald had a knife.

In addition to calling for the removal of Alvarez and McCarthy, Jackson demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor to try Van Dyke. He said he wanted a federal investigation into the police department with the aim of changing what critics say is a culture of racial bias.

“We need bold comprehensive change in the police department and the criminal justice system,” Jackson said during a news conference at his Rainbow PUSH headquarters. “Too much time for too little crime.”

McDonald's death has rekindled a national debate over police treatment of African-Americans and other minorities. The soul-searching was triggered last year by high-profile police killings of black men in Missouri, New York and elsewhere.

Jackson also called for a White House conference on violence for cities in urban areas and innovation to help create opportunities in disenfranchised communities.

The video clip, taken by a camera mounted on the dashboard of a squad car, showed McDonald being shot as he walked away from officers. A total of 16 shots were pumped into his body, even after he lay motionless on the pavement.

Jackson spoke the a day after about 2,000 protesters flooded Chicago's Magnificent Mile, a strip of designer stores, to voice outrage over the killing and how the case was handled.

Some shops temporarily closed their doors because of the protests, which coincided with the start of the holiday shopping season, as demonstrators locked arms and blocked entrances.

At times, police had to escort shoppers inside.

Post Sources: CNN, Reuters, Chicago Suntimes, YouTube

RAHM EMANUEL INVOLVED IN COVER-UP OF LAQUAN MCDONALD'S MURDER






WHAT HAS MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL REALLY DONE FOR CHICAGO'S BLACK VOTERS?

In this video I discuss how Pres OBAMA'S close friend Chicago Mayor RAHM EMANUEL, may have played a significant role in the cover up in the Murder of LAQUAN MCDONALD who was shot 16 times in 2014 by a Chicago Police Officer.

When he died LAQUAN was a 17-yr old Foster Care kid.

Long before 17-yr old Laquan McDonald (Black, male Youth) was shot 16 times by Chicago police, he was a walking dead person.

Laquan's Mother, his troubled childhood and the Foster Care system in Ilinois were actually responsible for his premature death.

So although Laquan recently died due to SUICIDE BY COP, the Police should not be solely blamed for his Murder.


~ After Police Shooting in Chiacgo, Calls for Emanuel to Resign.

"A leader has to be held to account for the code of silence... in the Chicago police department," one civil rights lawyer says.

For nearly two years, he was the second-most powerful Democrat in Washington, a famously confrontational, joyously profane White House gatekeeper who traded in his job as the first black president's right-hand man to run for mayor of Chicago, their shared, beloved hometown.

Now, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama's former chief of staff, is facing calls for his resignation amid disturbing questions on the latest and, arguably, most egregious, incident of police use of deadly force against an African American citizen.

Tuesday's release of a graphic video showing a white Chicago cop pumping 16 bullets into a black teenager will likely cast a pall over Obama's push to ease strained relations between police and the black community in cities nationwide, an issue he personally elevated to the national agenda last year.

Besides adding the Windy City to the ever-expanding list of places that which have become shorthand for deadly confrontations between police and African Americans:

Ferguson Missouri; Staten Island, New York; Cleveland; Baltimore -- the incident isn't a good look for the president.

Despite Emanuel's strained relations with the black community, Obama endorsed him for office during his first campaign in 2011, and Emanuel surged to office -- and to re-election in 2015 -- in part on the black vote.

Yet Obama's former top aide is suspected of helping police cover up the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, the newest name in an issue that cuts to the heart of the black community.

When Officer Jason Van Dyke shot McDonald on a city street last year as police responded to reports of theft and vandalism in the area, police administrators and city officials "said things that were knowingly, demonstrably false within minutes of the shooting," says Craig Futterman, a Chicago civil rights lawyer who helped break open the case.

"A leader has to be held to account for the code of silence that continues to exist in the Chicago police department. He has to acknowledge it and address it," he says.

In a press conference Tuesday with Chicago Superintendent Garry McCarthy, Emanuel announced the city would release a long-sought video of the shooting, recorded on a dashboard camera in Van Dyke's police cruiser that night.

Both the mayor and the commissioner said they expect protests from an angry black community, but wouldn't tolerate violence; they also stressed that Van Dyke, who was charged with first-degree murder just days earlier, was a lone bad actor.

Demonstrators on the streets of downtown Chicago hours later, however, didn't seem to agree.

"While we know the system has failed, no one can specifically say how," city Alderman Roderick Sawyer told ABC-7, a local TV station. "You cannot change a system by ignoring a system."

The grainy, nighttime video -- which police and city authorities had refused to make public until a judge ordered it released by Thursday -- shows McDonald jogging past Van Dyke and other officers, a small knife in his hand.

Although McDonald doesn't appear to confront the officers, several of them draw weapons on him; Van Dyke opens fire within seconds, gunning McDonald down.

Although the young man lies motionless on the ground, Van Dyke continues to fire, emptying his 16-round clip.

When the gunfire ends, a second officer walks over to McDonald's body and kicks the knife from his hand. Although several officers are on the scene, no one gives first aid to McDonald.

Shortly after the shooting, Futterman says, the Chicago police released a statement declaring that McDonald was the aggressor, was under the influence of PCP and that Van Dyke shot once in self-defense.

Days later, however, a police whistleblower came to Futterman and independent investigative journalist Jamie Kalven with a tip: Authorities are withholding a videotape, trying to sweep an unjustified shooting under the rug.

After a year of legal wrangling with the department amid growing publicity about the shooting, Futterman says, a judge ordered the release of the dash-cam video from Van Dyke's cruiser -- a decision that triggered a series of rapid-fire developments in the case.

Under pressure, prosecutors who said they'd spent months on the investigation quickly charged Van Dyke with murder, Emanuel and McCarthy met with African American community leaders and braced the city for release of a potentially explosive piece of evidence.

"I believe this is a moment that can build bridges of understanding rather than become a barrier of misunderstanding," Emanuel said in Wednesday's press conference. "I understand that the people will be upset and will want to protest when they see this video. We as a city must rise to this moment."

While Van Dyke's attorney insists his client acted in self-defense, Emanuel says the officer will be held accountable for his actions.

But Futterman says the buck ultimately stops at Emanuel's desk: the mayor let linger a false narrative McDonald's death, didn't compel the police to release the video when reporters asked for it and neither he nor McCarthy have taken steps to demolish the department's wall of silence.

After the shooting, Futterman says, officers destroyed videos of the incident recorded at a nearby fast-food restaurant ("Ironically, other security videos show them doing this," he says), rounded up and intimidated a group of eyewitnesses into silence and used news reporters to feed disinformation to the public.

"All the evidence appears to point to it: That a lie was told to the media," Futterman says.

"No official corrected that lie. And there were actions on the part of multiple officers to intimidate witnesses, to destroy evidence and to lie."

On Twitter Wednesday, ‪#‎ResignRahm‬ was trending, and Futterman agrees the mayor himself must answer for "keeping people in the dark and letting lies be told on behalf of Chicago police officers to hang in the air."

While Futterman doesn't hesitate to call it a "coverup," he stops short of accusing Emanuel of direct involvement, although "it's a fair question" to ask what he knew, when he knew it and what he did to ensure justice in the case.

The mayor "has fallen far short in this case, and I think it's up to the voters to decide" whether he should continue to lead Chicago, Futterman says, noting Van Dyke is the only one who's clearly been punished.

"What about all these officers that participated in covering up what happened and intimidating witnesses?

That's criminal," Futterman says. "Heads need to roll because this has become the practice and culture that's established by leaders like Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent McCarthy."
"I'm too cynical to say I'm surprised" no one's been fired, Futterman says.

While the majority of the Chicago police rank-and-file do a fine job, he adds, the culture at the top "protects the minority of officers who are out there abusing people.

That's fundamentally what needs to change."

If that were actually addressed, he added, "there's a good chance [McDonald] would be alive."


Sources: Chicago Suntimes, US News, YouTube

DEMOCRATS USE CHICAGO PROTESTS & POLICE SHOOTINGS TO STIR UP BLACK VOTERS







After 7 years of displaying Inaction and Apathy towards BLACK Voters, it appears Pres OBAMA and key DEMOCRAT party leaders are now using the Chicago Protests, Police Shootings of BLACK Males and BLACK LIVES MATTER Activists to lure disgruntled, Unemployed BLACK Voters to the Polls in Nov 2016.

This time it won't work JESSE JACKSON!


~ JESSE JACKSON CALLS FOR CHICAGO POLICE DEPT SHAKE-UP:

WHAT ABOUT MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL?

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson on Saturday joined a chorus calling for Chicago's police superintendent and a top prosecutor to resign for the way they handled last year's fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer.

More than a year after the October 2014 shooting, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez this week announced a murder charge against Officer Jason Van Dyke in the slaying of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

Hours later, the Chicago Police Department, headed by Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, released a graphic video of the shooting to comply with a court order.

Van Dyke's lawyer has said the officer opened fire because he feared for his life and the lives of other police officers when he saw McDonald had a knife.

In addition to calling for the removal of Alvarez and McCarthy, Jackson demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor to try Van Dyke. He said he wanted a federal investigation into the police department with the aim of changing what critics say is a culture of racial bias.

“We need bold comprehensive change in the police department and the criminal justice system,” Jackson said during a news conference at his Rainbow PUSH headquarters. “Too much time for too little crime.”

McDonald's death has rekindled a national debate over police treatment of African-Americans and other minorities.

The soul-searching was triggered last year by high-profile police killings of black men in Missouri, New York and elsewhere.

Jackson also called for a White House conference on violence for cities in urban areas and innovation to help create opportunities in disenfranchised communities.

The video clip, taken by a camera mounted on the dashboard of a squad car, showed McDonald being shot as he walked away from officers. A total of 16 shots were pumped into his body, even after he lay motionless on the pavement.

Jackson spoke the a day after about 2,000 protesters flooded Chicago's Magnificent Mile, a strip of designer stores, to voice outrage over the killing and how the case was handled.

Some shops temporarily closed their doors because of the protests, which coincided with the start of the holiday shopping season, as demonstrators locked arms and blocked entrances.

At times, police had to escort shoppers inside.


Sources: Reuters, Chicago Suntimes, Washington Examiner, YouTube