Chicago verdict comes 4 years after Laquan McDonald’s death
CHICAGO — Four years after he fired 16 bullets into a black teenager, three years after dashcam video of the shooting was released and three weeks after his murder trial began, Jason Van Dyke’s transformation from Chicago patrol officer to convicted felon came suddenly.
A clerk announced the jury’s decision. The judge revoked his bond. And Van Dyke, the first city officer in about a half century to be convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting, put his hands behind his back as if handcuffed and strode across a courtroom into custody.
The scene Friday was a quiet coda to the tension that erupted after the video was made public in November 2015. The shocking footage showed Laquan McDonald crumpling to the ground as the officer fired repeatedly at the teen, who was walking away from police. The video drew nationwide outrage and put the nation’s third-largest city at the centre of the debate about police misconduct and the use of force.
The magnitude of the conviction for second-degree murder was inescapable as Van Dyke walked out of sight of his family and McDonald’s relatives.