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U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch launches civil rights investigation of Chicago police
The U.S. Justice Department will investigate the patterns and practices of the Chicago Police Department, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Monday, a move that comes nearly 2 weeks after the release of a video showing a white Chicago police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times and ahead of the expected release of similar footage in another death at the hands of an officer.
Lynch said the investigation will focus in particular on use of force and deadly force, including racial, ethnic and other disparities in use of force, and its systems of accountability. It was opened after a preliminary review, said Lynch, who was joined at Monday morning’s news conference by Zachary Fardon, the U.S. Attorney in Chicago, and Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
The civil rights probe follows others recently in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, and comes as the police department and Mayor Rahm Emanuel are under intense scrutiny over their handling of the October 2014 death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder November 24, more than a year after the killing and just hours before the release of police dashboard camera footage showing the officer shooting the teenager.
The video shows McDonald veering away from officers on a 4-lane street when Van Dyke, seconds after exiting his squad car, opens fire from close range. The officer continues shooting after McDonald crumples to the ground and is barely moving. The video does not include sound, which authorities have not explained.
The Chicago City Council signed off on a US$5 million settlement with McDonald’s family even before the family filed a lawsuit, and city officials fought in court for months to keep the video from being released publicly. The city’s early efforts to suppress its release coincided with Emanuel’s re-election campaign, when the mayor was seeking African American votes in a tight race.
Since the release of the video, Emanuel forced Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign and formed a task force to examine the police department. But the calls for the mayor to resign – something he said he will not do – have grown louder from protesters, including the voices of more than 200 people during a march Sunday. Protesters counted to 16, in reference to the shots fired.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said he was pleased with the decision to investigate Chicago. The longtime civil rights leader said he hoped that the investigation would focus not only on the police department, but on Emanuel’s office and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, which he and others have criticized for taking so long to bring charges against Van Dyke.
“All 3 of them – the police, City Hall and the prosecutor’s office – are suspect,” Jackson said. “We cannot trust them.”
Emanuel initially said a federal civil rights investigation of Chicago police tactics would be “misguided,” but later reversed course and said he would welcome the Justice Department’s involvement – something that politicians, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, have called for.
A spokesman for the Chicago police department referred a request for comment about the reported investigation to Adam Collins, a spokesman for the mayor’s office.
