Top prosecutor 'moved up' announcement of charges against cop because of video

I was wondering why charges were so delayed, and if it had something to do with the video being released (today/tomorrow). I guess this answered my questions.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said Tuesday she decided weeks ago to charge a Chicago police officer with first-degree murder charges for the shooting of an African-American teen but held off until federal authorities completed their part of the joint investigation.

However, after a Cook County judge ruled last week that the video of the shooting would be released to the public, Alvarez said she “certainly moved up” her decision to charge Officer Jason Van Dyke. “I felt compelled in the interest of public safety to announce these state charges today,” she said at a news conference after Van Dyke had been ordered held on no bail at least until Monday in the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

This article really brings a lot of the details out regarding the incident, and that's the biggest thing that I wanted to share. The following is some timeline information:

Van Dyke then fired 16 rounds at McDonald in about 14 seconds and was reloading when another officer told him to hold his fire, prosecutors said during bond court.

In all, Van Dyke was on the scene for less than 30 seconds before he started shooting, and the first shot was fired about six seconds after he exited his squad car, Alvarez said. About 14 or 15 seconds passed between the first and last shots fired by Van Dyke, and for 13 of those seconds, McDonald was on the ground, she said.

Alvarez said the video showed McDonald lying on the ground while shots continued to strike his body and the pavement near him, with puffs of debris kicking up and his arms and body jerking as he was struck. Van Dyke’s partner told authorities there was a brief pause in the shots and he saw Van Dyke reloading, so he told Van Dyke to hold his fire so he could approach and disarm him.

He was on the scene for 6 seconds before he began firing! I'm not sure how this can be defended, but of course the police union is defending him saying that he feared for his life. He also was beginning to reload and it appears it's another officer who told him to stop firing. I guess we will see once the actual video is released.


Some other important info regarding witness testimony:

According to interviews with other officers at the scene, McDonald never spoke to them or responded to commands to drop the knife.

Witnesses who were stopped in traffic on Pulaski told authorities McDonald seemed to be “looking for a way to get away from the police,” Alvarez said. “He never moved toward, lunged at or did anything threatening,” she said.

All in all we have a lot to digest here, but it is very depressing reading this article.

source

a reply to: charolais
Pcp is so terrible it makes them keep attacking and takes 16 rounds to down him.


kinda makes a fool of the people that posted that earlier concerning this.


16 rounds and he was down by the third shot. You laugh at Chinese products, did his gun stick onFire mode.

You really will give anyone a gun and support the maniacs that have them because they might take yours.

originally posted by: chewi
a reply to: charolais
Pcp is so terrible it makes them keep attacking and takes 16 rounds to down him.


kinda makes a fool of the people that posted that earlier concerning this.


16 rounds and he was down by the third shot. You laugh at Chinese products, did his gun stick onFire mode.

You really will give anyone a gun and support the maniacs that have them because they might take yours.

How does it make anyone a fool? All we wanted was video evidence. Nobody has a problem ripping a cop over abuse of power. The problem is convincing people when the cop was actually defending himself.

Also, this story doesn't make the effects of PCP and what it does to your body any less harmful.

a reply to: LSU0408

Only a fool would think it takes 16 shots to down anything but an elephant. From that range.


Unless


Every shot him so with all the recoil from the shots hitting him could have been mistaken for an attack.
Sorry I didn't see the officers point of view. it is self defence no mistake.
My arse

a reply to: chewi

The only reason he is being charged is because the video has been released and is now viral.

If this video, as it previously was, would've have continued to be hidden away from the public, this officer would, as he was for over a year, still be in a job.

But hey - the real struggle is convincing people when a cop is truly defending themselves.

Hmm. I wonder why that sentiment stands.

a reply to: RomeByFire


If someone on pcp invaded your home and he was shot 16 times by you........
I will let someone else finish that sentence for me.
Not meant at you sorry. I meant in general.