Press conference at a demonstration outside Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office in City Hall.
Chicago has a long history of police impunity for murder and torture of black youth and adults. From police perjury in court "test-a-lying" as it is known, to torture (Detective John Burge), to kidnapping and disappearing people (Holman Square) to the assignation of political activists Fred Hampton and Mark Clark some 46 years ago, to the continuing extra judicial executions of mostly black men on the South and West sides of the City, the bad cops and corrupt policing have been given structural impunity by city officials and the police union. Release of a video withheld for over a year, of the murder of a black teen by a cop, was the breaking point. Outrage has spilled into the streets of the downtown sometimes snarling traffic and shopping.
Police on scene Dec 8th, 2014 could not get Laquan McDonald to stop walking away from them when ordered to submit to arrest after a report he was trying to break into a car. They followed him while waiting for back up to arrive with a taser. A police car responding to the call for back up arrived on scene and the cop almost immediately opened fire, emptying his magazine as Laquan continued to walk away.
While the boy had a small knife in hand, he was walking away. Cops then seized and destroyed surveillance video from the fast food restaurant that captured the event. They intimidated witness and all of the police lied on the official reports about what preceded the shooting. The Mayor and the States Attorney, Anita Alverez covered up the presence of the video and the mainstream media complied as usual until an independent legal activist was tipped off and got a legal order for the video's release, which the City fought.