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*** UPDATED x1 *** No charges in Johnson shooting

Monday, Dec 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced Monday that no criminal charges will be brought against a Chicago police officer in the fatal shooting of Ronald Johnson III because a dash-cam video of the shooting shows Johnson wielding a gun.

* ABC Chicago…

“The legal question in this case is not whether Officer Hernandez shot Mr. Johnson and killed him, those facts are not in dispute. The legal questions are: Number 1, is there sufficient evidence that exists to meet the legal burden of proof required to bring charges? Number 2, in using deadly force, did Officer Hernandez act reasonably under the law?” Alvarez said.

* Sun-Times…

A dashcam video, which was enhanced to provide the clearest view, showed Johnson just moments before he was shot and demonstrates that he was carrying a gun, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

At a news conference Monday morning, Alvarez and one of her deputies gave an extremely detailed narrative of what happened leading up to the shooting of Johnson, including audio tapes of 911 calls, police communications, maps and dashcam video.

Johnson and three other men had been at a party at 53rd and King Drive in Oct. and as they left their car was shot at.

The driver of the car heard the sound of a cocking gun from Ronald Johnson, who sat behind him.

Go read the rest.

* DNA Info…

The video was analyzed by experts and Alvarez said they are confident Johnson was carrying a weapon. She said the people in the vehicle with Johnson, who attended the party with him, also confirmed that he had a weapon. When asked how sure she was about Johnson being armed, she acknowledged the video was not “Hollywood quality.”

“They’re grainy, it’s dark, it’s blurry, it happened so fast,” Alvarez said, but after consulting with multiple experts she said they are confident that Johnson was carrying a gun.

Again, the video had no audio. Alvarez called the lack of audio in the dashcam videos “frustrating” and said the Chicago Police Department needs to answer for that.

A screen grab from the video is here. It’s hard to see anything.

*** UPDATE *** Mayor Emanuel…

“A life was lost here, and that is a tragedy that can’t be taken lightly no matter the circumstances. That’s why independent investigations are so crucial in these cases. Now, as our independent police review authority resumes its investigation to determine whether the shooting was consistent with CPD’s policy, we must also ask ourselves if the existing policies on the use of deadly force are the right ones and if the training we provide to officers to make split-second decisions in life or death situations is sufficient.”

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Meh

Monday, Dec 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Politico…

On the 14th day since the Laquan McDonald police shooting video was released, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is on political life support.

Not trying to pick on Politico here. Lots of outlets are saying the same breathless thing these days, as if any second now he’s gonna quit or be forced out.

* However…

[Chicago Ald. Ed Burke] noted that state law includes no recall statute for Chicago mayors and there is “no mechanism” to remove a mayor in whom the voters have lost confidence.

If he’s charged with a crime, if the president and/or Hillary throw him totally under the bus, if there are extended and devastating riots (which some seem determined to spark) then I can see Emanuel quitting.

As long as events don’t completely overtake him, he has a lot of time left on his term, and time is his main ally here.

* But as I’ve said before, the mayor truly needs to go big. Use this as an opportunity to create much-needed, dramatic change for the better. Chicago can be made a safer, better city if this is done right. And that benefits everyone, particularly the police.

…Adding… Greg Hinz…

In calling current and former Emanuel insiders and others who know him well, I hear some things that suggest that, as always, there’s another side to the story.

For instance, the mayor feared that if the McDonald video was released the wrong way, some cops would get their backs up and hit the city with a case of blue flu. And bad relations with some reporters, who “hate him,” according to one mayoral ally, can make things look worse than they are.

But far more typically, I heard there really is a problem, and his name is Rahm Emanuel.

“He’s a one-man band. That’s the way he’s been for five years. He micromanages everything,” says an insider who knows the mayor well. “Sure, he needs a better staff. But he wouldn’t listen to it anyhow.”

Others make the same point: Emanuel is so focused on the short-term goal of winning the 24-hour news cycle that he gets in his own way and avoids the long-term plans needed to reach his ultimate goals. He downplayed the need for a federal probe of the Police Department, for example, even though such an investigation is coming anyhow and could provide him with the necessary cover to force unpopular but needed changes.

Emanuel “needs a Teele,” says another source, referring to onetime mayoral aide Terry Teele, who in his own boisterous and convivial way was one of the few people in the world who could tell Richard M. Daley to his face when he was full of it.

…Adding… Related…

* Karen Lewis: Rahm Would Have Won Even if McDonald Video Had Been Released: “I don’t think he would have lost. I think that had he shown the video it would have helped him, shown that he was serious about transparency. But the real issue is how in the world was Chuy going to win? Rahm had all that money he could throw at the election. We are in a place now where elections are bought, not won.”

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*** LIVE COVERAGE *** Senate session

Monday, Dec 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Committees start at 11. The full chamber convenes today at noon. Here’s your ScribbleLive thingy…

Comments Off

Roundup

Monday, Dec 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The power of video…

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez on Monday will announce the results of an investigation into a fatal Chicago police shooting that occurred a week before 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot and killed by a different officer.

The announcement in the case of Ronald Johnson III comes less than a week after Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city would drop its fight against release of police dashboard video showing an officer shooting Johnson in the back on the South Side.

* Is anyone really surprised?…

Newly released documents in the fatal shooting of Chicago teen Laquan McDonald – including original incident reports, as well as summaries filed later by detectives — show that critical aspects of some officers’ version of events are not backed up by the now widely-viewed video of the incident. […]

One report states that as Van Dyke arrived and exited his vehicle, McDonald was “swinging the knife in an aggressive, exaggerated manner.” […]

In the video, Van Dyke begins firing at McDonald within about 30 seconds of arriving on the scene, near Pulaski Road and 41st Street — though the other officers already on the scene did not fire.

The report, however, has Van Dyke fearing for his life.

* Go read this entire story…

It is a system seemingly designed to fail.

Chicago police officers enforce a code of silence to protect one another when they shoot a citizen, giving some a sense they can do so with impunity.

Their union protects them from rigorous scrutiny, enforcing a contract that can be an impediment to tough and timely investigations.

The Independent Police Review Authority, the civilian agency meant to pierce that protection and investigate shootings of citizens by officers, is slow, overworked and, according to its many critics, biased in favor of the police.

* Oh, geez…

It sounds like something James Bond would carry: A knife that’s also a gun.

But it is the kind of thing police officers are warned about from time to time, just as they are about guns disguised as belt buckles and tire gauges and motorcycle handlebars modified to fire a shotgun round.

The knife-gun, which isn’t well known outside of gun enthusiast circles, has pushed its way into the case surrounding the 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald, a black 17-year-old who was shot 16 times by a white Chicago police officer, Jason Van Dyke.

The city released more than 300 pages of police reports and other investigation documents late Friday pertaining to the case, including a December 2012 bulletin warning officers about a “revolver knife” and a reference to Van Dyke remembering the bulletin.

During an interview with his superiors about the sequence of events and his decision to use deadly force, Van Dyke said he was aware of throwing knives, spring-loaded knives that propel a blade and he “recalled a previously issued Chicago Police Department bulletin warning of a weapon which appeared to be a knife but which actually was capable of firing a bullet, making it a firearm.”

* Meanwhile, if you read this Sun-Times story, you’ll see that the alderman who claimed they were deliberately misled by the mayor’s office about the shooting aren’t really telling the truth…

In painstaking detail, Patton described how Officer Jason Van Dyke, whom Patton did not identify by name on that day, fired 16 shots into McDonald’s body on October 20, 2014, as five other responding officers exercised restraint.

* And here come the feds…

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday the Justice Department civil pattern or practice probe of the Chicago Police Department will focus on the police use of force, racial bias and its systems of accountability.

Lynch said the investigation will review in part the department’s use of force and deadly force, how any violations are investigated, how those officers are disciplined and whether there is any racial or ethnic disparity in how those matters are handled.

* Here’s what to expect…

A pattern or practice review determines whether there are unlawful policing practices in a police department. If there is an agreement that remedies need to take place, the negotiated deal is overseen by a federal judge who appoints an independent monitor. If there is no agreement, the Justice Department can go to federal court and seek an order.

According to the Justice Department, “in addition to gathering information directly from community members, all pattern and practice investigations involve interviewing police and local officials, gathering information from other criminal justice stakeholders, observing officer activities through ride-alongs and other means, and reviewing documents and specific incidents that are relevant to the investigation.

“At the conclusion of an investigation, the division issues a public report detailing the findings. If the investigation finds no systemic violations of constitutional or federal statutory rights by the law enforcement agency, the division will state that and close the investigation. If, on the other hand, there are findings of patterns or practices of misconduct, the division will articulate precisely what those patterns or practices are, and will identify any systemic deficiencies underlying those patterns.”

* Related…

* ADDED: Sen. Mark Kirk Reacts to Laquan Mcdonald Shooting: “As far as I’m concerned, every single police officer who witnessed this shooting and failed to arrest officer Jason Van Dyke or who falsified reports to mislead investigators should be off the streets,” said Sen. Kirk in a statement. “And every person who made an effort to hide the murder of Lacquan McDonald should be held accountable by either the Department of Justice investigation, the federal grand jury investigation or the upcoming trial,” Kirk added.

* This Is How London Police Deal With A Knife-Wielding Suspect

* Rahm Emanuel op-ed: I own the problem of police brutality, and I’ll fix it

* Black People Are Not Ignoring ‘Black on Black’ Crime: To the extent that killings by the police generate more outrage, it is completely understandable. Police in America are granted wide range of powers by the state including lethal force. With that power comes a special place of honor. When cops are killed the outrage is always different than when citizens are killed. Likewise when cops kill under questionable terms, more scrutiny follows directly from the logic of citizenship. Great power. Great responsibility.

* Police review authority boss ousted: A former federal prosecutor will head the agency charged with investigating police shootings in Chicago after the immediate resignation of its chief administrator, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced Sunday.

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US Supremes refuse assault weapons ban appeal

Monday, Dec 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tribune…

Acting in the aftermath of the San Bernardino mass shooting, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from gun owners who challenged a Chicago suburb’s ban on assault weapons.

Two conservative justices said they would have heard the case and struck down the ban.

The court, though, left in place a lower court ruling that found that local governments have leeway in deciding how to regulate firearms. The federal appeals court in Chicago upheld the city of Highland Park’s 2013 gun law that bans semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.

In October, the federal appeals court in New York largely upheld similar laws in Connecticut and New York, among a handful of states that ban semi-automatic weapons.

Discuss.

…Adding… Steve Chapman has some perspective on this issue…

It’s hard to think of any plausible safeguard that would have blocked firearm acquisitions by the husband — a Chicago-born U.S. citizen with a government job, a spotless record and no known history of mental illness. Law enforcement officials report that all four of the guns the killers had were bought legally in California.

Farook bought the two pistols, and another man bought the two rifles. The couple may have gotten the rifles in violation of the state’s rule that all gun transfers must go through a licensed dealer. Determined criminals can easily evade the law.

Two people capable of making or acquiring more than a dozen pipe bombs, which are not sold at Wal-Mart, probably have ways of getting the sort of guns they deem necessary.

Not that they would especially need “assault weapons.” These rifles are functionally indistinguishable from other semi-automatic firearms, which discharge equally lethal rounds with equal rapidity. And plenty of ordinary guns with higher calibers can do worse damage just as quickly.

Trying to prevent carnage by getting rid of “assault weapons” is like trying to prevent alcoholism by outlawing vodka. There are plenty of good substitutes. Limiting the size of magazines is also no hurdle for a minimally competent shooter, who can bring extras to quickly replace depleted ones.

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