Chicago - Community leaders who met with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday say the city plans on Wednesday to release a disturbing video of an October 2014 fatal police shooting of a black teenager.
The meeting was aimed at preparing for public reaction to the video, taken by a patrol car dashboard camera.
It is being released as a result of a judicial order stemming from a lawsuit brought by a freelance journalist.
Also Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the officer will face criminal charges, citing unnamed sources. A spokeswoman for the Cook County State's Attorney's office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ja'Mal Green, of the community group Skyrocketing Teens Corp, said that based on the description he heard, “a lot of people are going to go crazy when they see the video.”
“This video is definitely modern-day Emmett Till,” Green said, referring to a black Chicago teen who was lynched while visiting Mississippi in 1955.
The video shows Laquan McDonald, 17, being shot 16 times on October 20 last year by police officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white. Van Dyke is on administrative duty while prosecutors investigate.
A federal grand jury is also probing the incident.
McDonald's death came at a time of heightened nationwide scrutiny of police use of lethal force, especially against black men. Chicago leaders are trying to avoid the protests over police killings that have rocked a number of US cities.
Emanuel spokeswoman Kelley Quinn described the meetings as an “open dialogue to discuss the tragedy that took place last October, the actions of the officer that remain under criminal investigation, and the path forward for Chicago.”
Media, the police and community leaders urged residents to demonstrate peacefully if the video moved them. “Be passionate. Be peaceful,” read a weekend editorial in the Chicago Tribune.
The police officer's union opposes release of the video, which will be evidence if Van Dyke is charged.
“It'll be out there and people will see it dozens and dozens and dozens of times. Then you have to go that same population and select a jury pool,” said Dean Angelo, president of the Chicago lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Police have said McDonald had threatened them with a knife and slashed at the tires and windshield of a patrol car. The video shows him moving away from police at the time he was shot, said a lawyer for McDonald's mother, who has seen the video.
From 2008 to 2014 Chicago had an average of 50 fatal and non-fatal police shootings a year, more than bigger cities like New York and Los Angeles. Almost all of the Chicago shootings were found to be justified.
McDonald's family received a $5 million civil settlement from the City of Chicago, even though it had not filed a lawsuit.
Reuters
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