Four Chicago police officers were fired Thursday over false or misleading statements made after the 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald by another officer.
…Dash-cam footage of the shooting released a year later showed McDonald walking away from the officers when Van Dyke opened fire and continued to shoot at the teen, even when he was already on the ground. Van Dyke at his trial testified that he feared for his life.
…The board said that Viramontes told a detective that he saw McDonald continue to move and try and get up off the ground, with the knife still in his hand, after he was shot, and that video evidence showed that was false.
…Franko, who was the first on-scene supervisor in the October 2014 shooting, approved reports that “contained several demonstrable and known falsehoods,” including that Van Dyke was injured by the 17-year-old, who had been carrying a knife, the police board wrote in the decision.
The other three officers, all of whom were on the scene, gave statements about the shooting, and the board found that “each of the three officers failed in their duty — either by outright lying or by shading the truth.”
…None of the four officers fired by the police board were charged criminally, however they were stripped of police powers and assigned to desk duty as their case proceeded, the Associated Press reported.
…The U.S. Department of Justice in early January 2017 released a report that said among other things, Chicago police officers had skewed probes and had a “code of silence” to favor and protect officers.
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