white Chicago policeman was charged on Tuesday with murdering a black teenager,

a prosecution that was speeded up in hopes of staving off a fresh burst of the t
urmoil over race and police use of deadly force that has shaken the United State
s for more than a year.
Officer Jason Van Dyke, 37, was denied bail at a hearing in Chicago's main crimi
nal courthouse hours after top Cook County prosecutor Anita Alvarez announced ch
arges of first-degree murder. If convicted, Van Dyke could face 20 years to life
in prison.
At the brief court hearing, prosecutor Bill Delaney told Cook County Circuit Cou
rt Associate Judge Donald Panarese that a video of the Oct. 20, 2014 shooting do
es not show Laquan McDonald, 17, who was armed with a knife, advancing on Van Dy
ke, and that witnesses concur on that fact.
A highly anticipated video of the shooting will be released on Tuesday afternoon
, local media said. Authorities had previously said the video would be released
on Wednesday.
McDonald was shot 16 times by Van Dyke, who emptied his gun and prepared to relo
ad, prosecutors said. Van Dyke has said through his lawyer and the police union
that the shooting was justified because he felt threatened by McDonald.
"Clearly, this officer went overboard and he abused his authority, and I don't t
hink use of force was necessary," Alvarez said at a news conference after the he
aring.
The judge scheduled another hearing for Monday and asked to see the video then i
n order to reconsider the issue of bond.
Van Dyke has had 20 misconduct complaints made against him during the past 4-1/2
years, none of which led to any discipline from the Chicago Police Department,
according to research by Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor
and expert on police accountability issues.
"The Chicago Police Department refuses to look at potential patterns of miscondu
ct complaints when investigating police misconduct," Futterman said. "If the dep
artment did look at these patterns when investigating police abuse, there is a g
reat chance right now that 17-year-old boy would still be alive."
He believes Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer to be criminally charge
d for an on-duty shooting.
Alvarez also said prosecutors moved up the timing of the charges ahead of the re
lease of the video.
"With release of this video it's really important for public safety that the cit
izens of Chicago know that this officer is being held responsible for his action
s," she said.
Last week, a court ordered the release of the video, taken by a police patrol ca
r's dashboard camera. The police union objects to its release.
McDonald's death came at a time of intense national debate over police use of de
adly force, especially against minorities. A number of U.S. cities have seen pro
tests over police violence in the past 18 months, some of them fueled by video o
f the deaths.
The uproar was a factor in the rise of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movem
ent and has become an issue in the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.

In Minnesota on Tuesday, police arrested two men, one white and one Hispanic, re
lated to the shooting of five people near a Minneapolis police station where dem
onstrators have gathered for more than a week to protest the shooting of an unar
med black man by officers.
FAMILY CALLS FOR CALM
McDonald's family called for calm, as did city authorities and black community l
eaders.
"No one understands the anger more than us, but if you choose to speak out, we u
rge you to be peaceful. Don't resort to violence in Laquan's name. Let his legac
y be better than that," McDonald's family said in a statement through their lawy
er.
In Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, family appeals for peace were not always he
eded.
Black community leaders in Chicago said they feared violent protests in reaction
to the video, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel appealed for calm. Politicians and church
leaders in the Austin neighborhood urged potential demonstrators to protest peac
efully.
"We feel your pain, but we challenge you to turn your pain into power. We know p
rotests are coming, please allow them to be peaceable," the Rev. Ira Acree said
at a news conference.
Police shootings are frequent in Chicago, the third-largest city in the United S
tates with 2.7 million people, roughly one-third white, one-third black and onethird Hispanic.
From 2008-2014 there were an average of 17 fatal shootings by police each year,
according to data from the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigat
es police misconduct.
Almost all shootings, fatal and non-fatal, are found to be justified.
Prosecutor Delaney told the judge that Van Dyke's partner, identified as "Office
r A," saw Van Dyke preparing to reload his weapon and told him to hold fire.
Prosecutors said that McDonald was on the ground for 13 seconds between the time
he first hit the ground and the moment Van Dyke stopped shooting.
Van Dyke's lawyer Daniel Herbert said his client would prevail in court.
"This is a case that can't be tried in the streets, it can't be tried in the med
ia, and it can't be tried on Facebook," Herbert said.
Van Dyke, who wore a brown sweatshirt and faded blue jeans as he stood with his
hands behind his back in court, has been on administrative duty. Federal prosecu
tors were also investigating the shooting.
The altercation between McDonald and police officers on Chicago's southwest side
began with a call that a knife-wielding man was trying to break into trucks to
steal radios. Chicago police have said McDonald threatened them with a knife and
slashed at the tires and windshield of a patrol car. McDonald ignored a warning
to drop the knife, officials said.
The city has already paid McDonald's family a $5 million civil settlement even t

hough they did not file a lawsuit.

Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/24/us-usa-race-chicag
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