Warning: this video is graphic (the confrontation begins around 5:00)
– Chicago Mayor Emanuel Urges “Remain Peaceful” After Video Shows Cop Killing Black Teen:
With the release of this video, we suggest anyone living in and around Chicago ‘brace’ for potential social unrest. The Chicago Police Department has released video footage of the officer-involved shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was struck 16 times during a confrontation with officers.
The dashcam video, described by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez says that this video is “graphic, violent, and chilling,” is expected to provoke a very strong emotional reaction from Chicago’s very large African-American community.
As John Kass, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, said, the video “could tear Chicago apart,” which is why Mayor Emanuel has already urged Chicagoans, “it is fine to be passionate, but it is essential to remain peaceful.”
Laquan McDonald was walking down a Chicago street the night of October 20, 2014, carrying a four-inch knife and behaving erratically, authorities say.
A police officer told him to drop the knife. He didn’t listen, and the officer fired on him out of fear for his life, according to a police union spokesman.
McDonald, 17, died. He was shot 16 times.
Now, more than a year later, the public will be able to see what happened.
Warning: this video is graphic (the confrontation begins around 5:00)
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As RT reports, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel urged calm as City Hall got set to release police dash cam footage from the shooting incident, which occurred in October 2014. During the incident, 37-year-old Jason Van Dyke, a white officer, shot and killed McDonald, an African-American teen.
“I understand people will be upset and want to protest when they see this video,” Emanuel told reporters during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
Emanuel cited the McDonald family, saying, “They have asked for calm, and for those who do protest to do so peacefully.”
“It is fine to be passionate, but it is essential to remain peaceful,” Emanuel added.
Earlier in the day, Van Dyke became the first on-duty Chicago officer to be charged with first-degree murder. He was ordered held without bail at a hearing. He has been placed on a “no pay” status by the department. As Michael Snyder adds,
Over the past few years, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray have all become household names because of the way that they died, and now it looks like Laquan McDonald’s name will be added to that list. But the situation in Chicago is potentially even more volatile what we witnessed in either Ferguson or Baltimore.
More than a million African-Americans live in the Chicago metropolitan area, and the crime rate in the city has already been skyrocketing. In fact, it is being projected that Chicago’s murder rate will increase by 20 percent in 2015. This is a city that is always living on the edge of chaos, and now the case of Laquan McDonald could be the spark that sets Chicago ablaze.
After everything that has happened over the past few years, the last thing that we need is another incident that will make racial tensions in this country even worse. Unfortunately, that appears to be exactly what we are going to get.