The Daily - The Police Shooting That Rocked Chicago

Episode Date: October 12, 2018

On the night of Oct. 20, 2014, a white police officer shot a black teenager 16 times. It took nearly four years for the case to make it to trial. It took less than eight hours for the jury to reach a verdict. Guest: Monica Davey, the Chicago bureau chief of The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today. It took four years for the case to make it to trial. It took less than eight hours for the jury to reach a verdict. Monica David on the police shooting that has rocked Chicago. It's Friday, October 12th. On the night of October 20th of 2014,

a truck driver out on the southwest side of Chicago in this industrial area says he saw a man trying to break into trucks in a lot that he was in. So the truck driver calls 911. He said that he thought the man was trying to take radios out of the truck. He hangs up the phone with 911 and then has a confrontation with the man. The man runs off and the truck driver's waiting for the police to come. Well, that set off a really complicated set of events for the city. Today, a holding citizen, 4,100 killed there by the United Runoff. complicated set of events for the city. The police officers come and they talk to the truck driver and they get a description.

Male, we caught breaking into trucks and stealing radios. Black male in a dark shirt. And they head off to look for him. shirt. And they head off to look for him. Pretty soon after that, they find the guy and they tell him to stop and take his hands out of his pockets. He doesn't stop, but he does take his hands out of his pockets. And what they see is that he's got a knife. They try to get him to drop the knife, but he just keeps on walking. When he won't stop and he won't drop the knife, they call for reinforcements. At one point, the police car gets so close. He manages to slash the tire of one of the squad cars.

Well, by now, more and more police cars are coming on the scene. close? Well, by now, more and more police cars are coming on the scene. Forty-five Robert, we're about two blocks away. Like a dozen officers out there. Lots of squad cars, lots of lights and sirens. Four-oh, there are more bikes. They're just trailing a guy who's walking along the road with a knife. Let me know when he's in custody, guys. They go through a parking lot of a Burger King. Some police cars go one way and some go around a corner a different way. But in the end, they end up on walking toward Pulaski on this road where it's really just

pretty much the police cars and this man walking along with a knife. So a lot of the police cars had dash cam video running in them that night. But there's one car right behind this man, and that video captures everything that happened. So what you see is you see the man with the knife moving away from the police officers, this whole set of police officers that's been following him. He keeps walking away, just as he has been. And then you see an SUV, a police SUV, pull up to the side of him, and you see a police officer, Officer Jason Van Dyke, jump out. And at that point, you see the man, he veers away from Officer Van Dyke ever so slightly. And with that, Officer Jason Van Dyke starts shooting. And you can, in the video, see the man spin around as he's hit and fall to the ground, and the bullets just keep coming.

When it's finally over, you see an officer come over and kick the knife away from the man's hand. It turned out that the person on the street wasn't a man. It was a boy. He had just turned 17 years old. His name was Laquan McDonald. Laquan was someone who had had a difficult young life. When he was born, his mom was a teenager herself. He ended up in foster care repeatedly. He had been diagnosed with PTSD at a very young age. He was someone who was in juvenile detention and had his share of problems.

There was a sense, I think, that you find in the court records about him, that he was a resilient person. Right before he was shot, his principal said that he was going to school and he was behaving well and, in fact, was even giving some people hugs. His mother was trying to regain custody of him at that point. So there were some signs that things were looking up. So Laquan McDonald's death took place just a few months after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Another case of a white police officer shooting a black teen. You would have thought that Laquan McDonald's death would have drawn a ton of attention, but it actually didn't. In fact, it drew almost no attention in Chicago. The reports from police had been that he behaved aggressively, that he maybe lunged at the officer. Police say this was a clear-cut case of self-defense.

Carrying a three-inch knife, and he apparently ignored officers' orders to stop. Police officers say that Laquan McDonald lunged towards Officer Van Dyke. The sense was that the police had behaved in self-defense in this case, and Chicago sort of moved on. Except there was somebody inside law enforcement who had seen the dash cam video or knew of the dash cam video and tipped off an independent journalist and said, hey, you have got to see this video. It's terrible. From there, there was a crescendo of interest in getting a hold of this video. There is a video from one police car

that may actually show the clearest angle that has not been released. We filed our own freedom of information request with the Chicago Police Department, asking them for any dash cam video. Those who have seen the video say it is explosive, and freelance journalist Brandon Smith has filed suit to have that video released. The city fought to conceal the video, though, even after the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, and a freelance journalist all filed FOIA requests for its release. The city said that they couldn't release it

because it was part of an ongoing investigation, which was true, but it also meant that the city was able to delay the release through an election. Mayor Rahm Emanuel was seeking a second term in office that spring, and the delays went on until a point at which the city was finally sued for it. And it wasn't until 13 months later that a judge said, look, you have to release this video. It needs to become public.

But just hours before the video was released. As you know, we have charged Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke with first degree murder in the connection of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. The county prosecutor calls a press conference. She announces that she's bringing charges against Jason Van Dyke. With these charges, we are bringing a full measure of justice that this demands. And there's some skepticism in Chicago about the timing of all this. Why bring charges now, just before the release of the video? all this why bring charges now just before the release of the video throughout the course of our investigation i've seen the video on a number of occasions and i can tell you it is graphic

it is violent it is chilling and i have absolutely no doubt that this video will tear at the hearts of all chicagoans and so when the video finally comes out, it had an instantaneous impact on the city. Freedom! Freedom! All these racist a**holes! We don't need them! Protesters filled the streets of Chicago following the release of a video showing a police officer shooting a Black teenager.

There are people marching on the streets within a matter of a few hours. They were furious that this hadn't been released sooner. They were furious that it had happened at all. Tonight, a second night of protest is underway in Chicago. They were furious that there had been so many shots. Sixteen shots! There was something about the sheer number of shots,

sixteen shots, that no one could really make sense of. People felt like the city had been keeping the information from them. And there were plenty of people who felt like this was a cover-up. We'll be right back. After the dash cam video was released, the fallout was pretty immediate and pretty significant. Superintendent McCarthy and I began a discussion on Sunday. This morning, I formally asked for his resignation. The police superintendent was fired. Kim Foxx unseats incumbent Anita Alvarez.

The county prosecutor lost her re-election bid. The mayor says hundreds of tasers have now been shipped to Chicago. The city expanded the availability of tasers. With the police department reeling from some controversial officer-involved fatal shootings, the mayor and his top cop promised change. They started looking at other reforms that could be made about how police use force. We found that the Chicago Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force.

It triggered a local task force investigation into the department and a U.S. Justice Department investigation. And on the basis of this exhaustive review, the Department of Justice has concluded that the Chicago Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force. And in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force. And... As much as I love this job, and will always love this city and its residents, I've decided not to seek the election. Rahm Emanuel, the mayor,

announced that he would not seek a new term in office. He has said that it wasn't about the Laquan McDonald shooting, but there are a lot of people who would tell you that the dash cam and Laquan McDonald's death left a huge mark on his tenure as mayor. By the time the trial starts in September of 2018, lots of people in Chicago are watching. And that's because it's been almost 50 years since a Chicago police officer was convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting. And in a way, the trial comes to represent not just a trial of one police officer in one shooting,

but sort of all of the police shootings that we've had over time and this lingering question about whether police officers will be held accountable for these shootings. It's important to understand that Chicago has a really troubling past. There has been a systematic violation of the human rights of African Americans who have been subjected to some of the most indignant conduct of any human being convicted upon another. Everybody here remembers those stories, and those are the stories in the back of people's minds leading into this trial. Stand up and say we will not tolerate that. minds leading into this trial. As the trial starts, you see outside the courthouse a level

of security that's really unusual. There's a line of police officers every morning waiting outside the courthouse. There are barricades up making room for the possibility of protesters. You can just feel the tension. It feels like something really big is about to happen. Madam Sheriff, will you present the decorum order? There's no talking while court's in session. If you want to talk, you need to step outside. So inside the courtroom, you see Jason Van Dyke on one side

sitting alongside his set of lawyers. Do not approach Mr. Jason Van Dyke on one side, sitting alongside his set of lawyers. Do not approach Mr. Jason Van Dyke for any reason whatsoever. And then you see another line of lawyers that are the prosecution team. Would everybody please be seated? At the bench, you've got Judge Gaughan, and then on the far side of the room. Our wonderful jurors, if the monitor goes off, could you please raise your hand and we'll get it plugged up real quick. You have the jury sitting in the jury box.

We're here today because a defendant shot Laquan McDonald 16 times when it was completely unnecessary. So the prosecution begins, and they're presenting really a pretty straightforward case. The essence of the prosecution case was the video. They presented other witnesses, of course, but if you had to boil it down into one sentence, that's what it was. It was the video. They presented other witnesses, of course, but if you had to boil it down into one sentence, that's what it was. It was the video. When you are working on these cases, the only vantage point that you have is the vantage point of a video. But when you recreate everything

three-dimensionally, you're no longer stuck in those. You can now change the views. And the defense presented a different, more complicated argument. In this particular situation, we can now put a camera over the shoulder of, in this case, Officer Van Dyke, and we can now watch it from these different perspectives. The defense took the dash cam video and they really turned it on its head. They said that they used laser-based technology to take everything that had happened there that night and turn it so that you could see what it would have looked like from Officer Van Dyke's point of view. What was Laquan McDonald doing? Advancing on me.

And could you see him, his face? Yeah, I could. His face had no expression. His eyes were just bugging out of his head. He had just these huge white eyes just staring right through me. I was yelling at him, drop the knife. I yelled, I don't know how many times, but that's all I yelled. And did he keep advancing toward you? He never stopped. They were sort of putting up the dash cam video against the animation they created and almost making them equal. His own animation shows a murder and five counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.

When it came down to closing arguments, there was one impassioned argument that did stand out. Rupon McDonald wasn't trying to attack anyone that night. The prosecutor stood up and essentially laid out what he saw as the scenario. He was demonstrating his intent and his desire to avoid confrontation at every stage. Where Laquan McDonald had at every turn tried to basically get out of there. It's Jason Van Dyke firing bullets, ripping into the flesh of Laquan McDonald 16 times.

That's not justified. That's not necessary. That's first-degree murder. So the jury went off to deliberate on Thursday afternoon, and they came back in the morning. Has the jury reached verdicts? Will you please read the verdicts? We, the jury, find the defendant, Jason Van Dyke,

guilty of second-degree murder. We, the jury, find the defendant, Jason Van Dyke, guilty of second-degree murder. We, the jury, find the defendant, Jason Van Dyke, guilty of aggravated battery with a firearm, first shot. When the jury came back, it did feel like there had been this video where bullet after bullet after bullet after bullet hit Laquan McDonald. 16 shots in all. And there's the jury reading out guilty of aggravated battery with a firearm on count one.

Guilty of aggravated battery with a firearm on count two. And on and on and on through 16 shots. One for every single bullet. Now Jason Van Dyke is in jail. He's awaiting sentencing, which will come presumably relatively soon. But there's another trial that Chicago is going to be watching for. And it's three police officers who were involved that night who are charged with lying about what happened. The story that these officers told and the picture that they put together was the one that was sort of the official police version of what happened. They described a situation where Officer Van Dyke

had reason to be in fear for his life. And in fact, one of the officers got up on the stand at Officer Van Dyke's trial and told that story again, described this aggressive movement and a case for self-defense. So I think that the outcome of this trial was really important to some people here, people who had thought that no police officer would ever be held accountable for a police shooting. And so for those people, this has gone a long way. But now there's a bigger question

about how far accountability will go. Will it stop with a police officer who does the shooting, or will it go on to all the fellow officers who have to report what they saw? And let it be a message to every Chicago police officer. You know justice right, or you can join your party. John O'Lequan! Johnson O'Lequan! Johnson O'Lequan! Johnson O'Lequan!

Johnson O'Lequan! Here's what else you need to know today. This morning, Florida's Gulf Coast, Panhandle, and Big Ben are waking up to unimaginable destruction. Across northern Florida on Thursday, search and rescue teams raced to reach communities overwhelmed by Hurricane Michael, a Category 4 storm whose intensity wiped out entire towns. So many lives have been changed forever. So many families have lost everything. Homes are gone. Businesses are gone. Roads and infrastructure along the storm's path have been destroyed. This hurricane was an absolute monster, and the damage left in its

wake is still yet to be fully understood. The hurricane killed at least six people, damaged thousands of homes, and cut off electricity to more than one million residents. Help is coming by air, land, and sea. This is a very dense part of the state. And so it's going to be a lot of work to get to everybody, but we will get to everybody. Michael, downgraded to a tropical storm, is now moving across the Carolinas and is expected to drift out to sea this morning. The Daily is produced by Theo Balcom, Lindsay Garrison, Rachel Quester, Annie Brown, Andy Mills, Ike Sreeskanarajah, Claire Tennisketter, Paige Coward, Michael Simon-Johnson, Jessica Chung, Alexandra Lee Young, and Nina Potok. With editing help from Larissa Anderson and Wendy Doerr.

Lisa Tobin is our executive producer. Samantha Hennig is our editorial director. Our technical manager is Brad Fisher. Our engineer is Chris Wood. Thank you. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you on Monday.