Holy shit America, how do you explain the merciless killing of this unarmed black 17-year-old in the video above?
This video from last year in Chicago has just been released, the white police officer who shot Laquan McDonald 16 times now charged with first degree murder. The city is bracing itself for the type of unrest seen in places like Ferguson and Baltimore following other police shootings. TIME with more:
A judge ordered that the recording be put out by Wednesday. Moments before the footage was made public Tuesday evening, the mayor and the police chief appealed for calm.
“People have a right to be angry. People have a right to protest. People have a right to free speech. But they do not have a right to … criminal acts,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said.
In the full video it is reported that the officer can be seen kicking something out of McDonald’s hand, believed to be an 8cm knife that was recovered on the scene. The victim’s family have received a $5 million civil settlement from the city, wrapped up before relatives had even filed a lawsuit.
Some more background on what led to the shooting:
An autopsy report says McDonald was shot at least twice in his back. It also said PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, was found in his system.
At the time of his death, police were responding to complaints about someone breaking into cars and stealing radios.
[Officer Jason Van Dyke], who was denied bond on Tuesday, was the only officer of the several who were on the scene to open fire. Alvarez said the officer emptied his 9 mm pistol of all 16 rounds and that he was on the scene for just 30 seconds before he started shooting. She said he opened fire just six seconds after getting out of his vehicle and kept firing even though McDonald dropped to the ground after the initial shots.
Expect massive uproar following the release of this footage and rightly so – how many times does #BlackLivesMatter need to trend before we stop seeing videos like this dominate the news?
[source:time]
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