City To Release Year-Old Video Of Another Controversial Police Shooting

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Dec 3, 2015 8:00PM

Police fatally shot another young black man just days before the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, and City Hall has announced plans to release the police dashcam video of shooting as well.

The release of the dashcam video of disgraced officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times last week ignited a storm of protests, calls for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign, and the firing of police chief Garry McCarthy. It's also led many to assume that McDonald's death, for which the cop has been charged with first-degree murder, is just the tip of the iceberg for the Chicago Police Department. The department has been accused of covering up more disturbing examples of fatal shootings, police misconduct and excessive use of force.

Officer George Hernandez fatally shot 25-year-old Ronald Johnson III on Oct. 12, 2014, while he was allegedly fleeing from police on foot. Police union reps say Johnson had pointed a gun at the officer before he was shot, but a lawyer for his family says Johnson was actually unarmed.

The lawyer told the Tribune that the video will show Johnson running away from police officers with nothing in his hands, and that the gun allegedly recovered from the scene was "planted" on Johnson by the officers to justify the shooting.

Emanuel announced Thursday afternoon that he would have the dashcam video depicting the shooting released sometime "next week." Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez says there is a criminal investigation into the Johnson case and she does not oppose the release of the video.