The shooting of Laquan McDonald took place in October, 2014. With several officers standing on the scene, Officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shot the teenager 16 times.
The officers’ reports suggested McDonald was bearing a knife and made a threatening move toward the officers when he was shot. A dashboard video of the incident, ordered released by a judge last November, offered the public a very different view of what happened; the video shows McDonald moving away from the officers when he was shot.
Van Dyke now awaits murder charges, and officials have been investigating for months potential action agains the other officers based on their reports. This week, the inspector general delivered his report on the incident to police. On Thursday, Supt. Eddie Johnson announced he would seek to fire seven officers for filing false reports, an action that is up to the police board to impose.
We’re left with two questions: Why would the process take so long, as officials have had the video since long before its public release? And will the statements of officers in other incidents also be up for review?
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