The Chicago Tribune reports that the police officer who shot and killed Laquan McDonald, the events captured on video, has been convicted of 2nd degree murder:
A Cook County jury convicted Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke of second-degree murder in the shooting of Laquan McDonald.
The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated about 7 ½ hours over two days before reaching its verdict.1:59 p.m. Van Dyke also convicted of 16 counts of aggravated battery
The jury also convicted Van Dyke of all 16 counts of aggravated battery — one for every shot he fired at Laquan McDonald.
He was acquitted on the single charge of official misconduct.
When my wife asked me my opinion of the case a few days ago, I responded that if Van Dyke were not to be convicted it would be proof positive that a Chicago police officer couldn’t be convicted of anything in a Cook County court. Perhaps this conviction will begin healing some of the ill feelings between the Chicago police and the communities on the South and West sides of the city. I’m not optimistic but you can always hope.
I didn’t follow the trial and don’t know the thrust of the defense, but the video suggests it is inconceivable he didn’t gun the kid down in cold blood. How’s the PR battle going?
These stories of police brutality are astonishing to me, I’m not saying they’re not true, but in my experience, where I live, they seem like an artifact from the distant past. The obvious solution would be salivating lawyers. Why that hasn’t put a damper on brutality is beyond me, unless the reports are not true, or not proveable.
@Gray Shambler
It exists, but it is not surprising that you have never experienced it (or anybody you know). You are not a criminal and do not live in a crime ridden area.
In crime ridden areas, law enforcement officers assume most people in the area are criminals, and unfortunately, they treat law abiding people like criminals. Since many of these areas are poor and black, it looks racist. (That does not mean that racism does not exist.)
When you saw the Rodney King video, you saw a crackhead who was driving recklessly and endangering innocent people being dragged out of the car and receiving an justified beatdown, but when the poor black people saw the video, they saw a black man being dragged out the car and receiving an unjustified beatdown.
Had the Laquan McDonald video not surfaced, his killer would be not only free, but he would be back in the same neighborhood with a badge and a gun. While the people in the crime-free areas would think the cops were their best friends, the people in Laquan McDonald’s neighborhood would know a murderer was patrolling the area.
It is tough at the bottom, and the people down there know they are going to get shit on one way or the other. You might feel the same way, but it is highly unlikely that there will be a video of @Gray Shambler being shot like a dog in the middle of the street.
You could think of the police like the businesses your union protected you against, but there is no union to protect the people at the bottom.
You’;re right of course but as to Rodney King video, no, I saw a helpless man getting the hell beat out of him by a lot of cops. I was surprised he lived. And the way the police attorneys fed that video frame by frame to the jury to show resistance was criminal. And so in the civil trial, King won and L.A paid millions, they pay for police brutality over and over and over again. But the police culture never seems to change, perhaps because their violence is rational response in the world they inhabit daily.