黒人少年射殺殺人警官起訴、差別虐殺は続く

【国際】
米、黒人射殺の白人警官訴追　１６回撃ち殺人容疑
2015年11月25日 10時57分
　【ニューヨーク共同】米中西部イリノイ州の検察は２４日、同州シカゴで黒人青年を拳銃で１６回撃って殺害したとして、白人警官ジェイソン・バンダイク容疑者（３７）を殺人容疑で訴追した。米メディアが報じた。　市当局は同日、パトカー据え付けのカメラで撮影された当時の映像を公開、黒人住民の一部は抗議デモを行った。エマニュエル・シカゴ市長らは記者会見して冷静な対応を呼び掛けた。　事件は昨年１０月に発生。バンダイク容疑者が、ナイフを所持した男がいるとの通報を受けて現場に駆け付け、黒人青年（１７）に向けて発砲。検察は青年が倒れてからも十数秒間撃ち続けたと指摘した。
　２４日、記者会見するエマニュエル・シカゴ市長（左）と警察幹部ら（ＡＰ＝共同）

Chicago Braces After Video of Police Shooting Is Released
Video Dashboard-camera video shows Laquan McDonald, 17, shot and killed by Officer Jason Van Dyke in Chicago in October 2014.
By MONICA DAVEY and MITCH SMITH
November 24, 2015
CHICAGO ･ A white Chicago police officer was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday in the death of a 17-year-old black man, just hours before city officials appealed for calm as they released a chilling video of the officer shooting the teenager as he lay crumpled on the ground.
The grainy, nighttime dashcam video, which a judge ordered released last week, shows the young man running and then walking past officers in the middle of the street and spinning when he is suddenly struck down by bullets. For a moment, lying on the ground, he moves but then is still after he appears to be shot several more times. An officer kicks an object away from his body. The video shows none of the officers on the scene offering assistance to the teenager, Laquan McDonald.
Standing with community leaders before releasing the video, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Garry McCarthy, the Chicago Police superintendent, said they expected demonstrations in response to the graphic nature of the video, and urged people to avoid violence. “It’s fine to be passionate, but it is essential that it remain peaceful,” Mr. Emanuel said.
The criminal charge against the officer, Jason Van Dyke, 37, who has been with the police department here for 14 years, was the first time in decades that a Chicago police officer had been charged with murder in an on-duty shooting. The city had previously fought to keep the video private, citing an ongoing investigation into the incident.

Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer charged with the murder of Laquan McDonald,･arrived at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago on Tuesday.
Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune, via Associated Press
The charge against Officer Van Dyke and the release of the video came just over a year after Mr. McDonald was shot 16 times, even after he had stepped slightly away from the officer, prosecutors said. Witnesses said Mr. McDonald, who was carrying a three-inch folding knife, never spoke to Officer Van Dyke or any of the other officers and did not make threatening moves toward him. None of at least seven other police officers on the scene fired their weapons.
The N.A.A.C.P., on Twitter, called it “unacceptable” that it took over a year for the video of the shooting to be released.
The family of Mr. McDonald, which had opposed the video’s release, also issued a statement through their lawyers calling for calm. “No one understands the anger more than us, but if you choose to speak out, we urge you to be peaceful,” the family said. “Don’t resort to violence in Laquan’s name. Let his legacy be better than that.”
In announcing the murder charge, Anita Alvarez, the Cook County state’s attorney, acknowledged that she had pushed to charge the officer before the video became public. “I made a decision to come forward first because I felt like, with the release of this video, that it’s really important for public safety that the citizens of Chicago know that this officer is being held accountable for his actions,” Ms. Alvarez said.

A memorial for Laquan McDonald, 17, and other victims at a school in Chicago in April.
Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune, via Corbis
Since late last year, the shooting has been investigated by a team that included the F.B.I., the United States attorney’s office in Chicago and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. But Ms. Alvarez said she decided to proceed with charges on her own when the videotape was ordered released. Federal charges are still possible, legal experts said, and federal authorities said their investigation was continuing.
Ms. Alvarez, a two-term Democrat who is seeking re-election in March, defended herself against suggestions that the investigation had taken too long, saying that such investigations into police shootings often take more than a year. And she rejected claims that she had buckled to political pressure by filing the charges before the video came out, saying she had reached a conclusion several weeks ago that charges were warranted.
Hours before the video’s release, a judge, Donald Panarese Jr., ordered Officer Van Dyke held without bail, indicating that he wanted to see the video before revisiting the question of bond at a hearing on Monday. Officer Van Dyke faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted.
Dan Herbert, a lawyer for Officer Van Dyke, has said that the officer believed the shooting was justified because he feared for his safety and that of other officers. Mr. Herbert said his client “absolutely” intended to go to trial. Dressed in a beige sweater and jeans, Mr. Van Dyke said little during the brief hearing.
Video Officials in Chicago, addressing a dashboard camera video that shows the police shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald last year, called for calm and a peaceful public response. The officer was charged with murder Tuesday.
The charges and the release of the video came amid a national debate over race, police shootings and a growing number of violent encounters with the police captured on video. Chicago’s police force has its own sometimes painful history, which by some estimates includes more than $500 million in settlements and other costs over the last decade tied to police misconduct as well as reparations for black residents who said a group of officers abused and tortured them in the 1970s and ’80s.
In April, the city agreed to pay $5 million to the McDonald family, even before a suit had formally been filed in the case.
On the evening of Oct. 20, 2014, police officers approached Mr. McDonald on the city’s Southwest Side, prosecutors said, after a resident reported seeing him breaking into trucks and stealing radios and was holding him until the police arrived. Mr. McDonald, who had the folding knife in his hand, walked away as police officers arrived. Someone called for a police unit with a taser, though it was not clear whether anyone with such a weapon ever appeared. At one point, Mr. McDonald “popped” the tire on a police car, apparently with his knife, the prosecutors said.
With more officers arriving on the scene, Mr. McDonald kept walking and jogging along, not responding to orders to drop the knife, prosecutors said. Near a Burger King along a busy stretch of Pulaski Road, Officer Van Dyke’s marked Chevy Tahoe pulled up alongside other police vehicles, including one containing a dashboard camera. Officer Van Dyke was on the scene for fewer than 30 seconds, prosecutors said, before he began shooting his service weapon, which had a 16-round capacity. The shooting spanned 14 or 15 seconds, and in about 13 of those seconds, prosecutors say, Mr. McDonald was lying on the ground. He was hit 16 times, including in his backside. An autopsy showed the presence of the drug PCP in his system.
Dan Herbert, a lawyer for the Chicago police officer who fatally shot Laquan McDonald, held a news conference in Chicago on Friday. Mr. Herbert has said Officer Jason Van Dyke feared for his safety.
Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune, via Associated Press
For months, the city had refused to release the video. On Thursday, Franklin Valderrama, a Cook County judge, ordered it released. The city initially indicated that it would appeal, but Mr. Emanuel then announced that Chicago would release the video, and issued a statement condemning Officer Van Dyke’s actions and calling for prosecutors to take prompt action.
“In accordance with the judge’s ruling, the city will release the video by Nov. 25, which we hope will provide prosecutors time to expeditiously bring their investigation to a conclusion so Chicago can begin to heal,” Mr. Emanuel said last week. On Monday, he met privately with community leaders and pastors.
Officer Van Dyke has worked as a Chicago police officer since June 2001, records show. He had been on administrative duty pending the investigation, and on Tuesday was placed on no-pay status because of the criminal charge, Mr. McCarthy said.
Mr. Herbert, the officer’s lawyer, said Officer Van Dyke was highly decorated with an excellent record and numerous awards. But records show that the officer had been the subject of numerous complaints from residents, including allegations of using excessive force and making racial slurs.