Chicago cop

Emanuel scrambles to contain crisis as deadly teen shooting goes national 

By Natasha Korecki

Facing perhaps his biggest test yet, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday scrambled to head off a crisis and the possibility of violent protests following the release of a graphic video showing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer.

The white police officer, Jason Van Dyke, was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday — the first time in recent history that a Chicago cop was hit with such a charge for an on-duty killing.

But even as the video went public on Tuesday, following a judge's order, critics turned some of their anger toward the mayor, whose administration for months fought release of dash-cam footage showing the police officer's actions. Critics questioned whether Emanuel delayed the video's release for political reasons.

The shooting happened in October 2014, in the months preceding Emanuel's re-election bid. Despite holding a huge fundraising advantage, the onetime White House chief of staff was dealt a setback in the first round of the campaign when he was forced into a runoff against Jesus "Chuy" Garcia. The mayor's struggle to contain violence in minority neighborhoods was a major theme running through the race.

On Tuesday, social media lit up with questions over whether Emanuel would even have survived re-election if the video had been made public earlier.

A longtime Emanuel ally, David Axelrod, tweeted: “Why did it take a year to indict a CPD officer who shot a kid 16 times? Would it have happened today if judge hadn’t ordered video release?”

The graphic but silent footage shows the teen walking on a diagonal, away from police vehicles, when he is knocked to the ground by gunfire. His body jerks as additional bullets hit him.

Soon after the video’s release, #LaquanMcDonald was trending worldwide on Twitter. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Chicago chanting "16 shots."

After Emanuel's re-election, the Chicago City Council was asked to approve a $5 million settlement to the McDonald family, which hadn't even filed a lawsuit. Aldermen said they took the action without seeing the video. Up until Tuesday, Emanuel said he hadn't viewed the footage either, though in recent days he described it as "hideous."

After returning from a trip to China, Emanuel on Monday met with African American leaders, ministers and other activists, asking them to reach out to various consitutencies with a request to remain peaceful and calm after the video's release.

Emanuel addressed the media on Tuesday after a TV station obtained an advanced copy of the video and the city accelerated the video release. The video was to be released on Wednesday.

“We as a city of Chicago, all of us, also have to make an important judgment about ourselves and our city as we go forward. Will we, in my view, rise to this moment that this incident demands of all of us in this city? In my view, this episode can be a moment of understanding and learning," Emanuel said. "The question before all of us: Will we use this episode and this moment to build bridges that bring us together as a city or we allow it to become a way that erects barriers that tear us apart as a city?”

The video became public only after an independent journalist, Brandon Smith, fought the city's denial in a court case. Even as Emanuel spoke of breaking down barriers, on Tuesday, Smith tweeted that he was not allowed into the mayor's press conference.

Chicago police said at the time of the October 2014 shooting that Van Dyke acted in self-defense after a knife-wielding McDonald lunged at him.

A police union spokesman on the scene the night of the death said, “He now has the knife fully in his hand going at one of the officers at that point, the officer defends himself.”

McDonald was carrying a three-inch folding knife.

Van Dyke appeared in court on Tuesday and is being held pending a Monday court date.