CHICAGO — A special prosecutor will investigate officers who were at the scene of the shooting of Laquan McDonald, a judge decided Friday.
A coalition of lawyers and activists filed a petition in February asking the Cook County Circuit Court to appoint a special prosecutor in the case of Jason Van Dyke, who has been charged with murder in the death of McDonald, and for other officers who were at the scene of the shooting. They have said those officers were part of a cover-up.
Judge Vincent Gaughan approved the request on Friday. He had already approved the request for a special prosecutor to handle the case against Van Dyke and is expected to appoint the prosecutor by Aug. 4.
"In my opinion, a special prosecutor was needed because of the fact that the Chicago Police Department had orchestrated a cover-up ... quite evidently," said Locke Bowman of the MacArthur Justice Center. He was part of the group that petitioned for the special prosecutor.
"To do that is not only a violation of Illinois law — it is a violation of history, a violation of historical record, a violation of the integrity of Laquan McDonald, a violation of the expectations and needs of communities of this city," Bownman said.
CPD orchestrated coverup in #LaquanMcDonald shooting, petitioner says. pic.twitter.com/76bsXlbcyB
— Kelly Bauer (@BauerJournalism) July 1, 2016
Bowman said he hopes the special prosecutor will reflect the diversity of Chicago. The coalition had suggested several choices, and Gaughan commended their recommendations.
The group hopes a special prosecutor will look into not just McDonald's death but also the aftermath — including a potential cover-up by the officers who were there, Bowman said.
"We know that the Chicago Police Department officers on the scene at the time of the McDonald shooting orchestrated a designed cover-up of how Laquan McDonald met his death," Bowman said. "But nothing until today has started to happen with respect to the other officers on the scene and involved in the coverup.
"This could not be more important. If the Chicago Police Department had had its way, if no videotape had surfaced of how that shooting had happened, the false account in the Police Department's official records would have become the ... 'truth' of how Laquan McDonald met his death. That injustice is so momentous and so horrifically appalling."
It was disappointing that it took this long to get a special prosecutor for the officers who were at the scene of the shooting, Bowman said. McDonald was killed in November 2014.
McDonald had been stealing car radios and was armed with a 3-inch blade when Chicago Police officers in Archer Heights called in a radio request for a Taser on Oct. 20, 2014, prosecutors said.
Van Dyke and his partner responded to the call, but never specified whether they had a Taser. Within seconds of arriving on the scene, Van Dyke pulled his gun and emptied his clip into McDonald, shooting the teen 16 times, according to authorities.
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