Three Chicago police officers were indicted on charges that they conspired to cover up and lie about what happened when a white police officer shot a black teenager 16 times, which prompted outrage when a video of the shooting was finally released.
The indictment handed down on Tuesday alleges that one current and two former officers lied about the events of Oct. 20, 2014, when Officer Jason Van Dyke killed Laquan McDonald.
The officers’ version of events contradicts what can be seen on police dashcam video, in which the teenager spins after he was shot and falls to the ground — seemingly incapacitated — as the officer continues to fire shot after shot into his body.
The indictment further alleges that officers lied when they said McDonald ignored Van Dyke’s verbal commands and that one of the officers signed off on a report that claimed the other two officers were, in fact, victims of an attack by McDonald.
“The co-conspirators created police reports in the critical early hours and days following the killing of Laquan McDonald that contained important false information,” says the indictment, in which the three are charged with felony counts of obstruction of justice, official misconduct and conspiracy.
The indictments mark the latest chapter in what has been one of the most troubling events in the history of a police force dogged by allegations of racism, brutality and the protection of officers who brutalize African-Americans.
The video sparked massive protests, cost the police superintendent his job and left the city scrambling to implement reforms to regain shattered public trust.
In January, the US Department of Justice issued a scathing report that found that the department had violated the constitutional rights of residents for years, including by too often using excessive force and killing suspects who posed no threat.
Around the US, there have been renewed questions on whether the legal system is willing to punish officers, particularly after two police officers — one in in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the other in Minnesota — were acquitted and a mistrial was declared in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the shootings of blacks that were captured on video.
Patricia Brown Holmes — appointed special prosecutor in July last year to investigate officers at the scene and involved in the investigation of the shooting — said in a news release that the three — David March, Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney — “coordinated their activities to protect each other and other members of the Chicago Police Department,” including by filing false police reports, ignoring contrary evidence and not even attempting to interview key witnesses.
“The indictment makes clear that these defendants did more than merely obey an unofficial ‘code of silence,’” Holmes said in the statement. “It alleges that they lied about what occurred to prevent independent criminal investigators from learning the truth.”
The officers allegedly began to conspire almost immediately on the day of the shooting, “to conceal the true facts of the events surrounding the killing of Laquan McDonald” and “to shield their fellow officer from criminal investigation and prosecution,” Holmes said.
The indictment alleges that the officers understood that, if video and other evidence became public, “it would inexorably lead to a thorough criminal investigation by an independent body and likely criminal charges.”
Van Dyke was charged more than a year after the shooting with first-degree murder on the same day that the city — under orders from a judge — made public the dashboard camera video. He has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, the three officers could face years in prison. The official misconduct charge alone carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a US$25,000 fine.
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