In October 2014, Laquan McDonald, a black 17-year old, was shot 16 times by a policeman named Jason Van Dyke. After a year of journalists and protesters demanding the release of the dashcam video that recorded the shooting, the video was released on Nov. 24 and sparked a wave of protests in Chicago, reported CBS in a timeline of the case's events.
Though Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder, he was released from jail after posting the $150,000 bond assigned to him, noted CBS.
A similar sequence of events unfolded parallel to McDonald's story. Ronald Johnson, 25, was also fatally shot in October 2014 by a policeman, this one named George Hernandez. On Dec. 3, the footage of Johnson's death was released, thanks to pressure from the ongoing protests, and on Dec. 7, the courts released their decision to not charge Hernandez for Johnson's death. This decision set off another bout of protests, reported Fox 32 Chicago.
At the beginning of December, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel created a police accountability task force in light of McDonald and Johnson's deaths and fired the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, Garry McCarthy. The protesters have continued to march and demand the resignation of Emanuel, as well as the Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, for having allegedly covered up the circumstances of the two men's deaths, reported CBS.
The US Justice Department announced a civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department on Dec. 7, and Emanuel apologized on Dec. 9 for McDonald's shooting. He said that he is taking measures to restore the community's faith in the police, reported ABC.
"A young man with a knife, agitated, surrounded by police officers, but until that point when police officer Jason Van Dyke got into the scene, this was a routine situation. It could have and it should have been contained and managed. Situations like this are diffused and resolved all the time without the loss of life," he said.
