Chicago Cop Charged with Murder of Black Teen

In the United States, a white Chicago police officer who shot a Black teenager 16 times was charged with murder by a Cook County court on Tuesday. 

The charges against Officer Jason Van Dyke stem from the violent shooting death in 2014 of Laquan McDonald, 17, the state's attorney's office said in a statement. 

Van Dyke, who turned himself in at the Cook County courthouse Tuesday morning, accompanied by his attorney Daniel Q. Herbert, is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing at midday.

The charges come as Chicagoans brace for the release of the squad car dashcam video of the shooting, described by those who have seen it as horrific.

The footage is being released as a result of a judicial order stemming from a lawsuit brought by a freelance journalist.

Tuesday’s court ruling marked a rare decision to prosecute a Chicago police officer for a fatal shooting, just the second trial resulting in this outcome in nearly two decades.

This is the first time a Chicago police officer has been charged with murder for an on-duty incident since 1981.

— Jason Meisner (@jmetr22b) November 24, 2015

The Chicago Police Department has gained an infamous reputation for imposing lenient punishments on officers charged with police misconduct. 

Of the 8,452 police misconduct complaints issued from 2011 to 2012, only 105 were sustained, according to a recent report by the Chicago based organization We Charge Genocide. 

However, leading up to the ruling, a Chicago-based activist group, the Black Youth Project issued a press release stating that Tuesday’s indictment will not eliminate the “inherent” problems within the Chicago Police department. 

“Indicting cops does not change the policies that promote the violence and trauma inherent in the Chicago Police Department. Chicago has more police officers per person than any other city. Chicago police murder more civilians than any other police force in the nation, ” The statement read.