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December 30, 2015

Chicago: Officer Van Dyke Pleads Not Guilty to Murdering Laquan McDonald
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In Chicago, white police officer Jason Van Dyke pleaded not guilty to
six counts of first-degree murder for the 2014 shooting of
African-American teenager Laquan Mc Donald. Officer Van Dyke shot
17-year-old Laquan Mc Donald 16 times while the teenager was at a
distance and walking away, posing no threat. On Tuesday, Laquan Mc
Donald's great-uncle Marvin Hunter called for a fully televised trial.

Marvin Hunter: "We're not asking for a change of venue, as has been
mentioned in the media before, as much as we're asking for federal
oversight. We now believe that it would be in the best interests of
fairness and justice for this case if it was televised, from gavel to
gavel, because we really believe that there is a culture in the County
of Cook, with the police department and the criminal justice system,
where police feel comfortable with murdering African-American people."

This comes as family members held a vigil to honor Quintonio Le Grier.
Chicago police killed the 19-year-old college student Saturday after his
father called 911 to help respond to a mental health episode in which
his son was behaving oddly and carrying a baseball bat. Friends and
family remembered Quintonio Le Grier as a straight-A student who ran the
Chicago Marathon in 2013. The other victim of Saturday's shooting was
Bettie Jones, the mother of five grown children, who lived downstairs.
Police have acknowledged they shot Bettie Jones by accident. Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has cut short his vacation and returned to Chicago
amid increasing calls to resign.


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