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Jose Torres spends most of the time at the busy commercial intersection.
The area on the southwest side has changed a lot since that night, four years ago, when fate brought it with his son, moments before a Chicago police officer kills fatally Laquan McDonald. But violent images and the explosive sounds of gunfire remain etched in their minds.
Torres and his son Xavier said the infamous video of the shooting that swept through the city with the police's dashboard camera was not comparable to the one they had witnessed.
During the weekend, after the historic conviction of the assassination of the agent Jason Van Dyke, the father and son returned to 41st Street and Pulaski Road to speak to a Chicago Tribune reporter about their decision to fight the false story woven by the police in the following days.
Although they attended the 17-year-old McDonald shooting in October 2014, they were chased by a police officer who did not bother to ask them what they saw.
The two men appeared last month at the Van Dyke trial, where they played a subtle but important role as the only civilian eyewitnesses to testify about the shooting. In fact, prosecutors chose Elder Torres as the last witness, said Special Attorney Joseph McMahon, because "I wanted the jury to hear from a real person".
"I wanted the jury to hear someone (who) was like them, a citizen of Chicago (who) is concerned about the relationship between the police and the community," McMahon told the Tribune at a news conference. interview granted this weekend. "And I thought it was a powerful way to end it."
MORE: Breakdown of 44 Van Dyke Trial Witnesses »
The guilty verdict on Friday against Van Dyke for second-degree murder and sixteen counts of serious injury charges – one for each bullet contaminated by McDonald's body – was the first for a Chicago police officer since a half a century to be dead in service. The historical affair was fraught with racial tension and social importance, as it involved a white officer and a black teenager.
The jury never heard of Jose Torres' refusal to remain silent about what happened that night after watching television reports the next morning with a spokesman for the police union saying that McDonald rushed to the police with a knife.
"I told my wife," They lie, "said Torres." This did not happen. "
MORE: Read all the Tribune coverage of Jason Van Dyke's lawsuit »
A few days later, Elder Torres contacted the municipal agency which then investigated the shootings by the police. He and his son then spoke with the FBI and the Inspector General's office of the city and testified before two large separate juries, one investigating Van Dyke and the other on the alleged police camouflage leading to charges of conspiracy against three other police officers.
Torres said family members and friends warned him not to interfere, but he felt that justice was compromised.
"It took me a few days to find the strength, the courage to call someone and report it," he said inside a police station. Dunkin 'Donuts located near the scene of the shooting, which has often been mentioned in the testimonies. "I could not sleep. It gnawed at me, my conscience and me. It killed me and I thought that if I stayed silent, I would be part of the hiding and I could not live with myself. "
Torres, 46, said he was taking his son to the hospital for persistent flu-like symptoms shortly before 10 pm. when he stopped twice to let police cars – their flashing headlights and resounding sirens – pass in a northbound lane of Pulaski Road.
He continued his route north but parked a third time on the east side of the road, a few seconds later, when he discovered the activity of the police. It was at this point that the two men first saw McDonald's escape from the Burger King and take the Pulaski South lane.
Torres said he had recoiled in front of his car, fearing to be too close to Van Dyke's partner who was driving their SUV police vehicle in the northbound lane, heading for McDonald's.
Jose and Xavier Torres testified that, sitting in their car, just south of the Dunkin 'Donuts, they had an unobstructed view of McDonald's while the teenager with his unusual jump in the walkway was climbing the street. They said McDonald was walking in a southwestern corner on Pulaski, away from the police.
In the seconds leading up to the shooting, McDonald's hands were on the sides, they said. The officers shouted at McDonald, who turned his head in their direction before gunshots were fired. While McDonald was falling on the street, the two men said they heard more gunshots than when the teenager was standing.
"Why are they still shooting him while he was on the ground?" Elder Torres remembers, calling aloud at that moment.
"As soon as I heard the shots, he fell," he said during the interview. "And then there was a break, and as soon as he just made a move, all of a sudden, it seemed like it would never end. It was like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, as it was on the ground, and they just kept shooting, shooting and shooting.
Both said they heard so many shots that they had falsely believed that more than one officer had fired.
Xavier Torres, 26, said he saw McDonald moving while he was on the sidewalk, like "he was hurting." Neither thought he was trying to get up like Van Dyke said – contrary to what the dashcam video shows.
A few minutes later, a police officer asked the Torres, with his flashlight, and another motorist who arrived later and parked in front of them, to leave, they said.
While father and son continued to go to the hospital, each of them said that they had tried to give the benefit of the doubt to the police for what they had come duty. Neither of them noticed the knife in McDonald's hand. They assumed that the police had shot him because he had a gun and "had done something really serious," said the youngest of the Torres.
Jose Torres said that he was angered the next morning after learning on television that the police had claimed that McDonald's had been guilty in front of an officer with a knife. He and his son talked about what to do next.
Xavier Torres, whose daughter was young, said he was worried about his well-being if he and his father made public what they saw.
"I always stand behind my father. I still believe in his decisions, "he said. "It was clear that what had happened was not correct and that we had to do our part to make ourselves known.
"We talked about it and we were worried about the potential threats and what could possibly happen," the son continued. "But at the same time, we are already there and you just have to follow your heart and do what is right, as it has taught me."
The former Torres said that he had withdrawn from his initial interview with the independent police control authority, the city agency who had subsequently investigated the firing involving officers, fearing that the authorities are no longer interested in protecting Van Dyke until discovering the truth.
Torres said no one had been contacting him for months, and he assumed that all the incident would be "swept under the carpet".
The next time anyone knows of the shooting, it's when Chicago freelance journalist Jamie Kalven knocked on his door.
A few months later, the father and son met in front of the FBI and testified before a secret grand jury.
The explosive dashcam video was released in November 2015 the same day Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder.
The verdict, the demonstrations, the relief of a family: how was held the day of the conviction of the officer Jason Van Dyke "
When Xavier Torres appeared at the helm of Van Dyke's trial, he stated that he was caught off guard by the officer's lawyers who had asked him questions. His only previous experience had appeared before the grand jury and the witnesses were not questioned.
His father watched his son's testimony on television and was ready when he entered the witness box a few days later.
The former Torres asked a Van Dyke lawyer when he actually had an unobstructed view of the shooting. Torres has not retreated.
McMahon, the special attorney, said that he expected the father and son to appear as credible witnesses.
"They made the public understand that the case concerned more than the Laquan McDonald's family," McMahon told the Tribune. "… It affected the entire city, not just the African-American community. In his preliminary interview, Mr. Torres said among other things that he hoped someone would get up and talk if it happened to his son. … it was something that really touched an agreement. "
Jose Torres said that at the time of the announcement of the verdict of the jury, he was watching live on television as many others in the Chicago area. He said he developed emotional listening when a court clerk read the verdicts of guilt.
Torres withdrew his granddaughter from school early on the day of the verdict for fear of his safety, but he said his family had not suffered any retaliation since he and his son had testified.
Torres said that he felt bad for the officer's family. Van Dyke has a wife, two young daughters and older parents who firmly believe that he has done his best in a difficult and dangerous job.
Nevertheless, Jose Torres said that he firmly believed that the verdict of the jury was right.
"He needs to serve his sentence for what he's done, but I do not think of the rest of his life," said Torres. "After the first shots, he should have just ended it. That's where I do not feel sorry for him because he chose to keep shooting. "
Van Dyke, 40, who was detained in Cook County Jail after being sentenced, faces at least six years in prison. He will soon be swapping his police star number for a state prison identity card.
Jose Torres said that he still often thought of the shooting and that he was pissed off when people were trying to blame McDonald for what had happened to him.
"No one deserves that," he says. "I do not care if he was innocent or not. Nobody deserves to be shot like that – 16 times in the street. … it does not matter what anyone says. This shooting was not justified. "
Stacy St. Clair and Megan Crepeau of the Chicago Tribune also contributed.
Twitter @ ChristyGutowsk1
MORE COVERAGE:
Meet the jury: in Jason Van Dyke's audience room »
Jason Van Dyke trial judges say the officer's request for self-defense does not match the video "
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