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CHICAGO – Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer charged with the murder of Laquan McDonald in 2014, was arrested Thursday by sheriff's officials after a judge found he breached his bail conditions by discussing with local journalists.
Judge Vincent Gaughan's decision to increase Van Dyke's $ 1.5 million bond by $ 2,000 should not result in a lengthy period of imprisonment for the accused officer; It was expected that it will display the extra deposit promptly. But the decision, one day after the start of jury selection, was a largely symbolic reprimand of the pre-trial public relations effort of the defense team in a case that caught the attention of that city and has been the subject of protests for years.
[[[[Learn more about the Laquan McDonald case and its impact on Chicago here.]
Agent Van Dyke, free since 2015, angered prosecutors by addressing reporters at the Chicago Tribune and a local Fox TV channel despite a court order restricting advance advertising At the trial.
"He is trying to testify in the press without being cross-examined," said attorney Joseph Cullen. He called the talks, which took place last month, "an affront to the authority of this court".
Judge Gaughan's decision added a dramatic layer to a trial that was already among the most popular in Chicago history. A video of the police detective Van Dyke, white in color, firing at Laquan, who was black, led to weeks of tense protests and requests for police review. Laquan, 17, was carrying a knife and was walking away from the police when he received 16 bullets.
After the broadcast of the video nearly three years ago, the Chicago Police Commissioner was fired, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was removed from office and the Department of Justice released a scathing report on discriminatory practices
Mr. Emanuel announced Tuesday that he would not seek re-election. And on Thursday, city leaders consented to police officers documenting whenever they point their weapon at someone, solving a major obstacle to a judicial consent decree based on the report's damning conclusions. from the Ministry of Justice.
On the eve of the jury selection, Laquan's family members called for peaceful demonstrations in the coming weeks. They recalled Laquan as a happy and lively teenager.
"It was really just the life of the house," said Carlissa Hunter, a great-aunt from Laquan. "Very, very happy. Always positive. Always kept a positive attitude, no matter what. "
Agent Van Dyke did not speak publicly about the shooting until August, when he sat down for long interviews with journalists from The Chicago Tribune and Fox Station, at the beginning of his trial, approached.
During these interviews, agent Van Dyke defended his decision to fire. "I would never have fired my weapon if I did not think my life was in danger or if another citizen's life was," he told The Tribune. He said he feared a long prison sentence when he was found guilty.
"I'm petrified by the fact that I can go to jail for the rest of my life for an act that the Chicago Police Department has taught me to do," said officer Van Dyke to the reporter. from Fox.
He also rejected suggestions that he is racist. "It's a very good story," he told The Tribune. "It's just a slander."
His lawyers defended their client's decision to talk to reporters. They said that Constable Van Dyke did not discuss the evidence during the interviews and that the interviews were aimed at protecting himself and his family.
"For two and a half years, it was the white policeman who shot the black teenager," Randy Rueckert, a defense lawyer, told the court on Thursday. "And for two and a half years, he had to sit down and take it."
Gaughan JA, Cook County District Court, agreed with the prosecutors that the interviews constituted a violation of bail conditions. But he stopped short of the prosecutor's request to revoke bail, and postponed a decision on contempt until the end of the murder trial.
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