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Chicago Officer Jason Van Dyke Is Guilty of Murder in the Death of Laquan McDonald ‘Justice for Laquan!’ Demonstrators Chant, as Chicago Officer Is Convicted of Murder
(about 2 hours later)
CHICAGO — The white Chicago police officer who fired 16 shots into Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, is guilty of second-degree murder, a jury said Friday. CHICAGO — For three years, Chicago was racked by the political, legal and emotional impact of a chilling video that lasted only seconds: A black teenager could be seen collapsing onto a street as a white police officer shot him over and over, 16 times in the end.
The defendant, Jason Van Dyke, became the first Chicago police officer convicted of murder for an on-duty shooting in nearly 50 years. His case has been followed closely in this city since dashboard-camera video of the shooting was released in 2015. On Friday, the officer, Jason Van Dyke, was found guilty of second-degree murder, a decision this city had anxiously awaited for months. Officer Van Dyke, who silently folded his arms behind his back as he was taken into custody, was also convicted of 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm — each count read aloud in the packed courtroom, one for each bullet that struck the teenager, Laquan McDonald.
Jurors also convicted Officer Van Dyke on 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, one for every shot he fired at Laquan. Officer Van Dyke, who was escorted out of the packed courtroom with his hands folded behind his back, could face decades in prison when sentenced. No Chicago police officer had been convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting in nearly 50 years, and this city had braced for the possibility of an acquittal and a furious response that seemed certain to follow. But when the verdict came, protesters who had gathered outside the courthouse suddenly broke into cheers. Others wept, calling out: “Justice for Laquan! Justice for Laquan!”
Outside the courthouse, a group of activists — who had planned protests if the officer was acquitted — cheered and chanted: “Justice for Laquan! Justice for Laquan!”
[Read: Chicago awaited the verdict with a “sense of anxiety.”][Read: Chicago awaited the verdict with a “sense of anxiety.”]
The video of Laquan’s death led to upheaval in local government and the Police Department and became a symbol for decades of mistrust between Chicago officers and black residents. The video showed Laquan, who was carrying a knife, veering away from the police when Officer Van Dyke jumped out of his squad car and started shooting. The shots continued after Laquan, who was 17, collapsed onto the street. For some residents, the trial became a proxy for years of anger over police mistreatment of black Chicagoans and over decades-old doubts about police accountability and transparency. They said they were relieved at the outcome and hopeful that it might force changes in policing and relations with city residents.
As the case played out at a heavily guarded county courthouse over the last three weeks, some said the verdict would be a referendum on whether a Chicago police officer could ever be held accountable for taking a life. Activists promised massive demonstrations if Officer Van Dyke was acquitted, and city officials extended police officers’ shifts and made plans for protests. Dashboard-camera video from a police car gave a clear view of the shooting, though the city for months resisted releasing the images and Chicagoans only saw it 13 months after it happened, on a judge’s orders. The fallout was significant: The police superintendent was fired, the local prosecutor lost her re-election bid, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced shortly before the trial began that he would not seek re-election next year.
After the verdict was announced, a group of several hundred demonstrators marched along downtown streets as the police blocked traffic to allow them to pass. Officers accompanied the demonstrators on foot and on bicycles. “That video had a profound effect upon this city, not just on policing but on politics, and not just in black and brown neighborhoods — it rippled across every neighborhood,” said Lori Lightfoot, a former president of the Chicago Police Board, an oversight agency, who is now running for mayor. “People saw it and just said, ‘Dear God, what happened?’ and ‘What do we need to do so that that never happens again?’”
The mood was generally celebratory, but there were some pockets of dissatisfaction. “To shoot someone down like that with no cause is first-degree murder,” said Rebecca Johnson, marching near the front of the crowd. “So there’s anger. But there’s relief, too, that we at least got a murder conviction.” Police union leaders and supporters of Officer Van Dyke sharply criticized the outcome, and said it would have an instantly chilling effect on officers who were simply trying to do their jobs and stop crime. “This sham trial and shameful verdict is a message to every law enforcement officer in America that it’s not the perpetrator in front of you that you need to worry about, it’s the political operatives stabbing you in the back,” Chris Southwood, a state leader of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, said.
And William Calloway, a community activist, added: “We’re not done here. We want federal charges for what he did to Laquan McDonald.” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, suggested that the verdict could affect policing beyond Chicago, particularly when officers confront residents carrying knives and knifelike weapons. “Departments will be taking a second look at how they train officers to deal with individuals with edged weapons,” Mr. Wexler said.
Prosecutors had charged Officer Van Dyke with first-degree murder, but Judge Vincent Gaughan also gave jurors the option of convicting him of second-degree murder, which carries a far shorter prison term. Jurors were told to convict on second-degree murder if they decided that the shooting was unjustified but that Officer Van Dyke believed at the time that he was acting reasonably. Officer Van Dyke, who is 40 and joined the Chicago police almost two decades ago, confronted Laquan, 17, along a darkened road on the city’s Southwest Side on Oct. 20, 2014. After a truck driver reported that evening that someone was breaking into vehicles in a parking lot, police officers followed Laquan, who was carrying a three-inch pocketknife and refused to stop when they told him to. The pursuit — with Laquan walking down the street and officers on foot and in squad cars behind him — ended when Officer Van Dyke arrived in a car, stepped out and shot him repeatedly, even after his body was crumpled on the street.
Several jurors, who did not give their names, spoke to reporters in the courtroom after the verdict was announced. One said acquittal was never on the table, and that the main debate was whether to convict on first- or second-degree murder. The jury deliberated for fewer than eight hours — a shorter period than some people had expected — and some jurors told reporters after the verdict was announced that two of them had at first leaned toward acquittal. The main debate though, the jurors said, was whether to convict Officer Van Dyke on first- or second-degree murder.
The only black juror, a woman, said she was not persuaded by Officer Van Dyke’s testimony. Officer Van Dyke had testified on his own behalf during the trial, saying that Laquan had given him a menacing look and angled the knife in his direction before he started shooting — actions that were not visible on the video, which jurors were shown again and again.
“He messed up,” she said. “His testimony wasn’t credible to me.” “He seemed scared on the stand,” said one man on the jury, who like other jurors did not give his name. “He was fumbling around trying to remember things exactly how they were, and his memories and the facts and other evidence didn’t line up.”
Even in the rare instances when officers are charged in deadly shootings, prosecutors often struggle to get convictions. Officer Van Dyke, 40, who has been on unpaid leave since he was charged, testified during the trial that he feared Laquan was going to attack him and that he had acted as he was trained. Prosecutors had charged Officer Van Dyke with first-degree murder, but Judge Vincent Gaughan also gave jurors the option of convicting him of second-degree murder, which carries a shorter prison term. Jurors were told to convict on second-degree murder if they decided that the shooting was unjustified but that Officer Van Dyke believed at the time that he was acting reasonably. Officer Van Dyke could face decades in prison when he is sentenced at a future hearing.
“I just kept on looking at that knife and I shot at it,” Officer Van Dyke told jurors. “I just wanted him to get rid of that knife.” Along the streets of downtown Chicago on Friday evening, demonstrations that had been planned for weeks went forward, though some now felt more like celebrations than protests. At dusk, several hundred people marched through busy streets as the police blocked traffic to allow them to pass. Officers accompanied the demonstrators on foot and on bicycles.
Prosecutors argued that Laquan had been trying to escape officers and that he posed no lethal threat. Especially egregious, they said, was Officer Van Dyke’s decision to keep shooting after the teenager fell to the ground. The city had been on alert for days as the end of the case grew near, and many officials had drawn up plans for managing unrest in the case of an acquittal. City Hall developed a 150-page action plan, and police officers were ordered to work long shifts and cancel vacations. Schools issued alerts about safety. And some downtown businesses sent workers home early.
“He continued to shoot into a completely vulnerable, defenseless young man who was twitching from each time Van Dyke pulled the trigger and pumped another bullet into his body,” said Joseph McMahon, the lead prosecutor. “How is that reasonable and necessary?” By evening, marchers were still moving through the streets, though their numbers were thinning. A Chicago deputy police chief, Kevin Ryan, said that a march involving several hundred protesters downtown had ended without any arrests. He said there had been no problems in other parts of the city.
Laquan’s death attracted little immediate news media attention, and city officials spent more than a year trying to keep the dashboard camera video out of public view. When the footage was finally released under court order, outraged protesters marched for weeks, chanting “16 shots and a cover-up.” The police superintendent was fired. The county prosecutor lost her re-election bid. The Police Department tightened rules for when officers can shoot and outfitted all patrol officers with body cameras and Tasers. William Calloway, a prominent Chicago activist who helped force the release of the shooting video three years ago, said he felt justice had been served. Nationally, even in the rare instances when officers are charged in deadly shootings, prosecutors often struggle to get convictions. He said the verdict proved to the city and the country that a white police officer can be held accountable for killing a black person.
Years passed before Officer Van Dyke’s trial, and fallout from the case continued to reshape Chicago. The Justice Department released a damning report that detailed a pattern of excessive force and discriminatory tactics. And on the eve of jury selection, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose popularity and power waned after the video was released, announced he would not seek re-election next year. “It means everything,” Mr. Calloway said. “It means more than what words can explain.”
“This has changed the lives of everybody in this city,” said Ja’Mal Green, an activist who is among many candidates vying to replace Mr. Emanuel. “This has made people pay attention to politics and policies.” But some people warned that one conviction did not represent wholesale change for a city that has long contended with troubled relations between the police and residents.
Mr. McMahon, the prosecutor, said he had been conscious of how closely black residents had followed the case, and said he hoped the verdict would begin “a new chapter in the relationship between law enforcement and the community.” “It doesn’t change anything,” said Gloria Williams, 53, who lives on the South Side. “Just because we got this one victory doesn’t mean we’re free. We’ve got a long way to go.”
“Laquan McDonald was not a throwaway young man,” Mr. McMahon said. “He had his challenges, as many teenagers do, and he should have been arrested that night. But that’s where this story should have ended.” Among some, there were pockets of dissatisfaction that the conviction had not been for first-degree murder. Some called for additional federal charges in the case.
“To shoot someone down like that with no cause is first-degree murder,” said Rebecca Johnson, who walked near the front of the crowd. “So there’s anger. But there’s relief, too, that we at least got a murder conviction.”
Some people spoke more somberly, noting that no conviction, no march should fail to remember Laquan.
“As long as this trial was going on, our family felt like we had never gotten closure,” said the Rev. Marvin Hunter, Laquan’s great-uncle, who was speaking at the Chicago church where the teenager’s funeral had been held. “And now we can go home tonight and sleep knowing that Laquan is at peace.”