Posted on 11/24/2015 6:52:30 PM PST by hole_n_one
Protesters took to the streets in the wake of the release of dash cam footage showing police shooting a teen being shot by police, chanting "16 shots" for the number of times the officer allegedly shot him.
The dash cam video, released by police today a day ahead of a court-ordered deadline, shows officers confronting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who later died at a hospital, as he walked down the street on Oct. 20, 2014.
Chicago police officials said they were responding to a report of a person walking down the street with a knife and that McDonald refused to drop the knife when ordered.
The video shows puffs of smoke coming from the ground at some points, which court documents said were caused by bullets.
A prosecutor at Officer Jason Van Dyke's hearing said that McDonald did not step towards the officer, but the officer allegedly took at least one step towards him.
Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder and stripped of his pay and policing powers, police officials said today. He was held without bond.
"It's certainly everyone's right to make a judgment about it but I would just state that the judgment made by individuals who have viewed this tape from the comfort of their living room, on their sofa ... it's not the same," Van Dyke's lawyer, Dan Herbert said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
How many years have they been rioting for things they dislike anyhow?
Better way to answer that response.
Nobody in their right mind is buying the BLM movement.
It is built on a lie.
Just told hubby why they just released this tape.
Takes the heat off of Obama,terrorists, refugees.
Obama and Rahm in cahoots over this one.
Couldn’t get the video to run and jumped to the conclusion that this was a different confrontation that I had heard of. You’re right.
Yup. Even some Freepers here are being complete morons on this one.
A knife writhin 20 feet can be MORE deadly than a gun.
Idiots, eh?
Look... Squirrel!!
Sad that his post is still here. I bit the abuse button.
I don’t get that either. The cop is being dealt with.
Good shoot.
Anyone who thinks otherwise (1) has never faced a weapon in the real world, (2) is a Black Lives (but no one else’s does) Matters troll, or (3) is a complete moron living in a padded bubble provided by those who protect us.
And check my posting history: I loath and castigate bad cops to the point where some Freepers think I am a cop hater.
Somethings not right about this. This city and state is run by democrats. They knew about this a long time ago.
Why a year later? Was someone trying to hide it until the right moment?....to change the subject....or...start an uprising when people would be paying attention...thanksgiving.....or?
Something else is going on.
People, this is indefensible, don’t defend it. Our argument is, why was this covered up so long? And what will this do to Rahm’s gun free zones? This is the city run by remnants of the Obama admin. This is Obama’s town.
This was EXACTLY my thought, and many others I can’t think of right at this moment!!!! The WHOLE family murdered and burned to death in their home DNA found on pizza perps ordered!!! This whole BS has started with this BASTARD admin. I am just sick to my stomach!!!! I honestly don’t know if this country will survive this SOB’s presidency!!!!!
LOL! That comment caused a snot bubble. Excellent.
Hey, just wanted to be sure I guess.
You sound like quite an expert on this kind of thing. Perhaps you should join the force and show them how it is done.
Absolutely.. as an expert on law enforcement shootings you should probably join the police or rewrite their use of force manuals.
i seriously doubt what was done here was in any manual
Did you see the video? It did not look like a good shoot to me.
Two points:
One, I am very familiar with the 21-foot rule. The cops certainly are too. So why then did the cop who did the shooting pull his cruiser up so close to the man with the knife? That alone is not criminal. But seems very stupid.
And two, the video showed that the man with the knife did not advance towards the cop. That is the key point here! A cop should not be able to simply shoot any thug with a knife who's within 21 feet of the cop.
So while I feel this was a bad shoot, I strongly disagree with the first degree murder charge. There is no way the cop planned any of this ahead of time. I just don't get the first degree murder charge here.
I definitely fit your first assertion, and because I don’t share your opinion, possibly your other two, from your point of view.
I can’t know for certain that it was a good shoot at the outset- I’d need to see more, but continuing to unload his weapon after the guy was DOWN shows an exceptional lack of discipline. The cop had backup, he wasn’t alone. Looking at the video I don’t see the guy moving in a threatening manner. This looks like an ugly moment for law enforcement.
I haven’t followed all the justifiable /unjustifiable shootings by cops , but I tend to give them a bit of leeway. God knows in the Chicago area they’re up against it evey day, but to me, this looks like a cop who has lost control.
“A year to file charges?! The prosecutor should be fired and the other officers charged as accessories. Murderous out-of-control cops and their protectors need to be brought to justice, jailed, and for outright murder, executed.”
I watched the video and it disgusted me. It’s way past time when the cops are able blindly protect their own when the violations of law are so clear. In this case, the proecutor should be removed from his office, unless he’s willing to go on the record and tell everyone who told him not to charge this cop for murder over a year ago. Cops are a bit like muslims in that they see Copdom as “their religion” (like islam) where it’s them against the rest of society and it’s o.k. to lie to protect one another no matter the circumstances.
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