The city of Chicago has settled a $5 million lawsuit with the family of a black teenager fatally shot by police in October 2014. The officer involved in the shooting has not been named or charged, but has been suspended pending an investigation.
Laquan McDonald, 17, was killed while holding a knife. He was suspected of having committed a robbery prior to the shooting, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The settlement with McDonald’s family is the result of police cruiser dash cam footage that shows the shooting, the Tribune reported. The video will not be released by the family as part of the settlement, which was approved by the Chicago City Council on April 15.
The city had been fighting the release of the video, but on November 19, a Cook County judge ruled the video must be made public by November 25. The city will not appeal the ruling, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Video of the shooting will be released Tuesday. You can watch the video here.
The officer in the shooting has been identified as 37-year-old Jason Van Dyke,who has been a Chicago police officer since 2001. A federal jury in a civil case found Van Dyke committed excessive force while handcuffing a suspect in 2007. Read moreabout that case here.
Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder.
WATCH: Video Shows Chicago Police Officer Shooting Laquan McDonald 16 Times
Dash cam video showing Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014 has been released. Watch it here.
Click here to read more
Here’s what you need to know:
1. He Was Shot 16 Times by 1 Officer Who Was 12-15 Feet Away
The family’s settlement with the city prohibits them from releasing the dash cam video to the public, but the family’s attorney, Jeffrey Neslund, has seen the video. Hedescribed it to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Neslund told columnist Mary Mitchell that the video shows McDonald walking west in the middle of Pulaski Street with a knife in his right hand. Two officers jump out of a SUV with their guns drawn. McDonald can be seen continuing to walk west, with a lane of traffic separating him from the officers. One of the officers begins shooting from about 12
to 15 feet away from McDonald. The teen is spun around by the first shots and the officer continues firing. McDonald falls to the ground and an officer kicks the knife out of his hand.
to 15 feet away from McDonald. The teen is spun around by the first shots and the officer continues firing. McDonald falls to the ground and an officer kicks the knife out of his hand.
According to the Tribune, officers began to follow McDonald after he was allegedly trying to break into vehicles at a trucking yard. The officers followed him for nearly a half-mile, through a Burger King parking lot and onto a busy street. The officers were waiting for backup units with Tasers and tried to corral McDonald to keep him away from passers-by, the Tribune reported.
The caller reporting the attempted break-ins at the trucking yard had told police McDonald was armed with a knife and had threatened him with it. He also punctured a tire of a police vehicle that was following him and struck the vehicle’s windshield.
The SUV carrying the police officer who fired the fatal shots arrived as the officers were trying to surround McDonald.
The family says the video shows McDonald walking away from the officers. According to the Tribune, one of the reasons the city settled the lawsuit was because the family’s attorney would have questioned why only one officer of the five at the scene opened fire.
The officer has claimed he feared for his life, and the police union claimed McDonald lunged at the officer with a knife, though that is not seen on video.
The autopsy showed that McDonald was hit 16 times, including in the chest, neck, back, arms and leg. It also showed that McDonald had PCP in his system at the time of the shooting, but a city alderman said that shouldn’t have an impact on the case. According to the Sun-Times, Carrie Austin said:
How would they [police] have known that? They would not have known that. You’re gonna look at them and know what kind of substance they have in them? I could have taken a Bayer aspirin. How would you know it? Even though it’s an illegal substance. So what? That particular [drug] could have gotten him to a level of cohesiveness or coherentness. Some people are extremely aggressive. Some could be less aggressive or keep them at a medium.
The full autopsy was released via a Freedom of Information Act request. Read it below:
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