Detective David March and Patrol Officers Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney were each charged with conspiracy, official misconduct, and obstruction of justice, according to a news release from the special prosecutor’s office. The three-count indictment was publicly released Tuesday.
“The indictment makes clear that these defendants did more than merely obey an unofficial ‘code of silence,’ rather it alleges that they lied about what occurred to prevent independent criminal investigators from learning the truth,” Special Prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes said in a news release.
Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014. He was charged with murder in late 2015.
The defendants are accused of lying about what happened and mischaracterizing the video recordings so that investigators would not learn the truth about the killing and the public would not see the video recordings because they knew that the public airing of the shooting video “would inexorably lead to a thorough criminal investigation by an independent body and likely criminal charges.”
March, 58, is a police veteran of more than 30 years. Walsh, 48, and Gaffney, 43, have both about 20 years on the Chicago Police Department. They are expected to be arraigned July 10 at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. Walsh, who was Van Dyke’s partner, resigned from the department in August 2016.
–Chicago Sun-Times
