Police Officer Gets Guilty Verdict for Murder
Chicago 2014. Police were looking for an individual accused of breaking into vehicles to steal radios when they came across 17 year old Laquan McDonald. I don’t know if he was the one who was actually committing the crime but at this point that really doesn’t matter. McDonald punctured the tire of a police vehicle with a pocket knife then fled. Th officer called out what happened over the radio.
This is where Officer Jason Van Dyke comes in. When he heard the radio call he questions why the officers didn’t shoot him. While still a block away from the scene he says, “Oh my God, we’re going to have to shot the guy.” This appears to indicate that Van Dyke had already decided that he would need to shoot McDonald even before he knew what the situation was. And that’s exactly what he did. Officer Jason Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald 16 times. He emptied his gun into the man even though McDonald was already on the ground by the third shot.
On October 5, Van dyke was found guilty of second degree murder. Video of the incident showed that McDonald never raised the knife to threaten Officer Van Dyke as was originally claimed. Three other officers are awaiting trial for trying to cover-up for Van Dyke. Officer Van Dyke will be sentenced on October 31.