Police Killing of Laquan McDonald

[Shiranu]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/29/us/jason-van-dyke-chicago-police-laquan-mcdonald/

(CNN)Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and misconduct charges in the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

McDonald's October 2014 killing sparked intense protests and calls for the mayor to resign.

The suspended officer faces six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct in the killing that was captured on police dashboard camera video. A freelance journalist sued to have the footage released, arguing it was a public record. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he thought releasing it would jeopardize a federal probe of the case, but a judge found in the reporter's favor and the video became public last month, more than a year after the shooting.

The video shows McDonald walking down the middle of the street. Police later said he held a 4-inch knife in his hand. At least two squad cars are visible, and McDonald can be seen walking away from officers. His back appears to be toward the cars when he is shot 16 times. According to a criminal complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Van Dyke was the only officer to fire his gun among the at least eight other officers who responded. The complaint said that McDonald was on PCP.

Demonstrators were outraged not just about the content of the video, but that it took 13 months to release it.

Van Dyke, who remained on desk duty after the shooting, had a history of complaints in his law enforcement career. He was cleared in almost every case. The allegations mostly involve excessive force, and at least one complaint alleges he used a racial slur.

I mean... it's not like they have tasers... it's not like they have fuck SUVs you could hit him with without killing him... no lets just pull out a gun and shoot him 16 times.

Protected by the Mayor, protected by the police department... it's not like he is some lone wolf stain on the PD... it's not like even the police department itself was protecting his racist and abusive ass... this went all the way to the mayor trying to cover up police brutality and murdering of minorities.

Yes... not all police are racist. But all police DO belong to a series of organizations that actively protects the murder of unarmed black men and women to cover their own ass. All police officers do belong to a series of organizations that apply their own laws to their own. All police officers do belong to a series of organizations that separate into "us vs them" and harass and abuse people who don't follow the same ideology as they do.

(yes that is snark and not necessarily how I feel about the police... though it has some accuracy)

[drunkenshoe]

Shooting someone at his back for 16 times is not just murder, it is also overkill and definitely personal. PCP?

All these murderous cops seem like they give a lot of symptoms about what is going to happen, but always gets cleared from previous incidents -highly likely cops taking care of cops and so on- and at some point they do kill someone in public and it is always the same story.

I wonder if these cases related to how these cops percieve 'danger' aspect of their work and 'civilians' they are supposedly to look at for. I started to think this differently than I did before. 

Somehow it seems like they do not see people as ciivilans when they even have a fucking wooden bat in their hands. This could be something related to the hyperbolic understanding of self-defence in American culture in a different level. I mean the general look that everyone is a threat and typical paranoia. I don't know how to express. But from outside it seems like there is a general overwhelming fear in American culture that people are paranoid of being killed or raped or tortured as a common thing that would likely to happen to them.

[Unbeliever]

Well, if cops are so scared, they could stop being cops and become taxi drivers. Oh wait, that's even more dangerous than being a cop.

Or they could be groundskeepers. Oh no! that's also more dangerous.

Well, how about truck driver? Nope still too dangerous.

Maybe they should just become stay-at-home dads if they're so damned scared.

most dangerous American jobs