New Audio From Laquan McDonald Shooting Shows Police Called For A Taser

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Dec 24, 2015 3:27PM

What were Chicago police thinking when they used deadly force on Laquan McDonald, the teenager armed with a knife who's shooting death in 2014 has sparked a firestorm of protests, new police accountability measures, the ousting of the police chief and a first-degree murder indictment?

New audio from the scene of McDonald's shooting death, obtained by NBC5 through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows police officers radioed for a Taser minutes before disgraced cop Jason Van Dyke unloaded 16 rounds into McDonald.

“Someone have a Taser?" an officer radioed from the scene. "This guy is walking away but he’s got a knife in hand."

An officer responds that there there was one coming from Mulligan and Archer.

A dispatcher then replies, asking if any officers closer to the area who had a Taser could “help out.”

McDonald was shot less than 7 minutes later, according to NBC5, and it is no clearer whether an officer with a Taser ever made it to the scene, in the 4100 block of South Pulaski Road.