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CHICAGO – Three Chicago police officers were acquitted on Thursday for conspiring and lied to protect a white policeman who fired 16 deadly shots at a black teenager, a contentious verdict in a case about what many considered "code of silence" in the police department.
The judgment, rendered in a tense and crowded audience hall, was delivered by a judge and not by a jury. Associate Justice Domenica Stephenson rejected the prosecutors' arguments, alleging that the police had chased the witnesses. She then created a narrative to justify the 2014 shootings, which provoked protests throughout the city, the dismissal of the police chief and a large federal investigation of the police forces
The decision was made over three months after the conviction of the agent Jason Van Dyke in October of the second degree murder of Laquan McDonald and the afternoon preceding the conviction of it. for a murder that was captured on an infamous video of the police dashboard camera.
The three police officers – David March, Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney – contradicted what the video showed. In this one, Mr. Van Dyke repeatedly fired on Laquan, who brandished a knife, moving slightly away from the agents and even being wrinkled on the ground. Prosecutors cited this sequence repeatedly as they constituted a lawsuit against white officers accused of conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice.
Judge Stephenson stated that although the shootings by the officers were different from the video. this was not proof that they were lying. "Two people with two different points of view can attend the same event," she said, while describing it differently.
The judge suggested that key witnesses for the prosecution had presented contradictory testimony, claiming that nothing at the trial had been presented. showed that the officers had failed to retain the evidence, as prosecutors had argued. Challenging the fact that police concealed a witness in connection with a concealment, the judge stated that it was not obvious that the police knew that the witness had witnessed the shooting.
The police, who were brought to trial in November, were accused of having written in official reports that Laquan had attempted to stab three other officers, claiming that he had been arrested. have seen trying to get up off the ground even after a series of shots. March, Mr. Walsh and Mr. Gaffney both denied agreeing to draft a text that could justify Mr. Van Dyke's decision to shoot Laquan. None of them fired that night. Other officers also witnessed the shooting and gave suspicious accounts, but were not tried; Grand jurors charged the three officers but refused to accuse others.
Todd Pugh, Mr. Walsh's lawyer, later stated that the judge had acted with courage to make his verdict, despite what he had called public pressure to find the police officers guilty. . . "There has never been a trial," he told reporters, adding that the grand jury had proven that he was justified in accusing a ham sandwich if the occasion arose. presented himself.
Walsh, who was Mr. Van Dyke's partner on the night of the shooting and who resigned from the department, spoke little. This experience was "heartbreaking for my family," he said. "A year and a half."
But many others were scandalized.
"The verdict tells the police that we can lie, cheat, steal, rape, steal and loot, and that's good," said Reverend Marvin Hunter, who is the great-uncle de Laquan
A group of ministers gathered at the courthouse denounced the result. Reverend Leon Finney, a pastor in Chicago's South End, described the practice as "travesty".
"The video clearly indicated that Laquan McDonald was not attacking or attempting to attack law enforcement officers," Finney said. "How could they all come up with a story that Laquan was threatening their lives?"
Toni Preckwinkle, chairman of Cook County Council and mayoral candidate, calls the decision "a catastrophic retreat backwards".
"The murder of Laquan is now an integral part of our city," she said. "Today's verdict does not serve justice after the senseless loss of a young life."
S addressing reporters at the courthouse, Patricia Brown Holmes, the special attorney, said that although she disagreed with the judge's decision, she hoped the trial had sent a message.
Ms. Holmes said she hoped that "others would think twice before adopting conduct that could lead them to an inquiry like this".
"Let's hope that someday there will be no code of silence," she said.
Like police officers, the general concept of a police code of silence was being tried in Chicago, where police officers had been accused for decades of covering up the actions of their colleagues.
As in other cities, locals have long complained that police officers have been stuck to account for their actions and the problem has been raised in state-run driving cases. Drunkenness The beating of a bartender and the trial of two officers who claimed to have suffered retaliation after breaking the code. Even the mayor of the city, Rahm Emanuel, recognized him.
In a 2015 speech, Mr. Emanuel condemned what some officers tended to ignore, deny and, in some cases, conceal the wrongdoings of a man. colleague or colleagues. "
million. March, who also resigned, had been tasked to investigate the shots. He simply wrote down what the witnesses had told him, said Mr. March's attorney at court at the trial. Mr. Gaffney was one of the officers who faced off for the first time in Laquan on the night of the shooting, after the police became aware of a man who allegedly broke trucks in the southwest of the city. . He and other police officers had followed the teenager, who was carrying a knife and ignored the order to stop for several blocks.
In a statement, Mr. Emanuel and Eddie Johnson, Commissioner of the Chicago Police, promised that their work improving the service would not stop.
"We will continue to take concrete steps to restore trust with the Chicago communities," the statement said, "because trust is our best tool for public safety."
Demonstrations after reading the verdicts , and William Calloway, a prominent Chicago activist running for the city council, urged Chicago residents to abstain. "For the black community, I know it hurts," he said on Twitter. "We know it was a cover-up. I do not say anymore to go down in the street. It is time for us to go to the polls. "
" This blue code of silence simply does not belong to the Chicago police: it extends to the judicial system, "said Mr. Calloway at a news conference.
On Friday morning, the courts are scheduled for the final chapter of the Laquan case – a murder that took place during national protests and a series of shootings on blacks by the police. implored a "call to action": "In Room 500, at 9 am, introduce yourself to express your solidarity with the organizers and family of Laquan McDonald, as we claim again, # Justice4Laquan. "
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