The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. September 18, 2018 Trial Underway for Officer who Killed 17-Year Old Laquan McDonald in 2014 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Chicago, the trial of Jason Van Dyke, the police officer who killed Laquan Mc Donald, is underway. On the opening day of the trial, the jury was shown the now-viral dashcam video showing Van Dyke shooting the unarmed African-American teenager 16 times as he walks away from him. Van Dyke faces two counts of first-degree murder. He is the first police officer in Chicago to stand trial for killing someone on-duty in 50 years. Last year, three Chicago police officers were indicted on felony charges for conspiring to cover up the facts of Mc Donald's shooting. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has also been sharply criticized for his response to the killing, namely in the delayed release of the dashcam evidence. .