Tag Archives: jason van dyke

Thousands raised for daughters of Chicago officer convicted of killing Laquan McDonald

Over 500 people have contributed more than $45,000 to a GoFundMe page for the daughters of convicted Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke.

One of Van Dyke’s lawyers, Tammy Wendt, began setting up the page last week not long after the guilty verdict, and donations have poured in in the four days since it went live. Many of the donations have come from law enforcement officers who say they were stunned by the verdict.

“They say they know it could have been one of them,” Wendt said on Monday.

Van Dyke earlier this month was found guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm — one for each time Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014.

Wendt said the $100,000 goal for the fundraiser was a number she “pulled out of the air,” and that in the near term the family will need the money to pay daily expenses without Van Dyke’s income for however long he is incarcerated. None of the money will go to his legal expenses, Wendt said.

“They [Vand Dyke and his wife] have two kids, and both of them want to go to college,” Wendt said.

Van Dyke was suspended by CPD after he was charged in November 2015, but soon after got a $14-an-hour job doing janitorial work for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, the union that represents most of the department’s rank-and-file officers.

Van Dyke’s wife, Tiffany, works as a bar manager, but took nearly a month off work to attend her husband’s trial, Wendt said.

“Tiffany is just overwhelmed with gratitude. She’s just floored,” Wendt said. “They just can’t believe it because it really is not just the money, things people are saying, some really supportive things, and that helps, too.”

Wendt said that she was surprised by the outpouring of support— and cash— in the days since the GoFundMe page opened, but admitted that she has had to block all comments to the page because of a number of negative remarks from visitors.

Contributing: AP

Tom Bevan (10/07/2018) – Carl Cannon / John Kass – The Brett Kavanaugh Vote

Tom Bevan (10/07/2018) – Carl Cannon / John Kass

Carl Cannon covers the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court story and the Senate’s vote to appoint him.  Tom updates us on the after vote fallout and what he calls the “Kavanaugh Effect” in the fall elections. The Real Clear Politics “POLL” has some surprising results and more changes might be along the way.  John Kass reviews the Jason Van Dike conviction and verdict announcement, as well as the way this case has and will impact the mayoral election.

Jason Van Dykes brother-in-law, “This wasn’t racially motivated”

Big John and Ramblin’ Ray are joined by former officer Keith Thompson, who is also the brother-in-law of Jason Van Dyke. He describes how the family handles the ongoing situation and his thoughts on if the incident was racially motivated, giving that he himself is African American.

Chris Southwood, Illinois FOP President: “(Van Dyke) was doing what he was trained to do that night”

Chris Southwood, President of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, recounts the recent events of the Jason Van Dyke trial with Big John & Ramblin’ Ray. Chris claims that Van Dyke was doing what he was trained to do when he encountered Laquan McDonald. Southwood also believes that the video created by the defense helps to prove the validity in Van Dyke’s decision to shoot.

Brian Warner, Former Chicago Cop: “You cannot dispute the fact that (Laquan McDonald’s) travel was toward Officer Van Dyke”

Former Chicago Cop Brian Warner tells Big John & Ramblin’ Ray that the video released by Jason Van Dyke’s defense team proves that Laquan McDonald was a threat. Warner also believes that the pattern of shots that took McDonald down proves that his path was towards Van Dyke.

Retired CPD Commander Ed O’Donnell talks Jason Van Dyke

As a former boss of Jason Van Dyke, retired Chicago Police Commander Ed O’Donnell shares his professional perspective of Van Dyke with Big John & Ramblin’ Ray.  O’Donnell also tells how he first met Van Dyke, what his impression was of Jason’s character, and what his advice to Van Dyke would be.

Dane Placko discusses his interview with Jason Van Dyke

Big John and Ramblin’ Ray are joined by Fox 32’s Dane Placko where they talk about his interview with Jason Van Dyke, that was released yesterday. Understanding how it went and how his feelings on the situation came across in the interview.

Here’s the interview of Jason Van Dyke speaking with Dane Planko ahead of the Laquan McDonald murder trial:

FOP President: “85% of Cook County residents have already made up their minds on Jason Van Dyke.”

 

Big John and Ramblin’ Ray are joined by Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police President  Kevin Graham, where they discuss Jason Van Dyke and how he speaks out for the first time since the shooting of Laquan McDonald. Plus the placement of his trial, since it has been delayed due to placement since residents in Cook County have already determined their verdict.

Report ties top cop Eddie Johnson to LaQuan McDonald shooting aftermath

By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO)  New problems for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.   The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Johnson, who was a police Deputy Superintendent when white officer Jason VanDyke shot and killed black teenager LaQuan McDonald in October of 2014, was among a group of top police officials who saw the dashcam video of the shooting just days after it occurred.

The Tribune cites documents it obtained of the city’s Office of Inspector General, which quoted a police Lieutenant who was at the viewing of the video.   The report says Lt. Osvaldo Valdez told

Inspector General’s investigators that “There was never no question whether the shooting was justified.  Everyone agreed that Officer Van Dyke used the force necessary to eliminate the threat, and that’s pretty much it.”

Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi acknowledged that Johnson was at the meeting but told the Tribune the superintendent “strongly disagrees” with Valdez’s characterization of the briefing. Guglielmi declined to elaborate and Johnson referred questions to the spokesman.

The McDonald shooting video shows VanDyke pumping 16 shots into the teenager’s body even though McDonald, who was armed with a knife, was walking away from him at the time.

 

The Inspector General has recommended that Johnson fire several officers who lied about the circumstances of the shooting that night.    The Chicago Sun Times reports that

Johnson has moved to fire only five of the 15 officers recommended for discipline for allegedly covering up or bungling the investigation into the McDonald shooting, but Johnson is still weighing discipline against four of those cops.  Van Dyke is currently facing murder charges in connection with the incident.

 

Judge rejects access to Laquan McDonald’s juvenile records again

(CHICAGO) Lawyers for Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke will not be able to access Laquan McDonald’s juvenile court records, a Cook County judge ruled on Wednesday for the second time, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

In August, Patricia Martin, the presiding judge of the child protection division of the Juvenile Court, denied the request from defense attorneys, who had argued that they needed to review McDonald’s file to prepare for trial.

Some members of Van Dyke’s defense team appeared before Martin again Wednesday to see if she changed her mind.

She didn’t.

Van Dyke is accused of shooting 17-year-old McDonald 16 times in October 2014.

Just last month, Van Dyke’s lawyers made a separate request to see McDonald’s private files to Judge Vincent Gaughan, who is presiding over the officer’s murder case.

While Gaughan asked the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to turn over 8,200 pages of McDonald’s juvenile court records, he said he will first analyze them himself to see if they are relevant for the officer’s trial.

Defense attorney Daniel Herbert, at the time, noted the “significant” amount of PCP in McDonald’s system and his “erratic behavior” before his death and said he needed to browse the records to see if the teenager had a medical condition or was on medication.

Gaughan has not yet announced his findings on whether any of the files are relevant for the defense.

Christopher Nelson, a spokesman for special prosecutor Kane County State’s Attorney Joseph McMahon, said he could not legally comment on Wednesday’s ruling since the matter was in juvenile court.

Defense attorneys don’t plan to appeal Martin’s decision, according to their spokeswoman Anne Kavanagh.

McDonald’s juvenile court records, usually confidential, were made public to the Chicago Sun-Times and other media outlets late last year after the graphic dashcam video of McDonald’s death in the 4100 block of South Pulaski was made public.

Abuse and neglect complaints began when McDonald was a toddler. He became a ward of the state at age 3, was in and out of foster care, and had a history of arrests for drugs and petty crimes, according to those records.

— Chicago Sun-Times

City seeks to keep cops’ personal emails about McDonald private

(CHICAGO) City Hall is trying to keep Chicago Police officers’ personal emails regarding the shooting of Laquan McDonald private.

The City of Chicago is asking a judge to overturn a state Attorney General’s Office ruling that said the emails are public record and, therefore, subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

The city filed the complaint Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court against the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and CNN.

Last January, a CNN producer filed an FOIA request with the Chicago Police Department that sought “all emails related to Laquan McDonald from Police Department email accounts and personal email accounts where business was discussed” for 12 specific Chicago Police officers, according to the filing. The request sought emails that were exchanged between Oct. 19 and 24, 2014, and again between Nov. 19 and 29, 2015.

The police department asked for and was granted an extension to fill the request. On April 19, the department sent the producer more than 700 pages of responsive records, according to the filing. Part of the request was denied.

The producer contacted the CPD’s FOIA office and was told the department “had provided her with all of the records found in its search for responsive records,” according to the filing.

On April 28, CNN asked for a review of the records by the Illinois attorney general’s public access counselor, alleging that the records provided by the police department were unresponsive, the filing stated. CNN also questioned whether the police department “had conducted an adequate search to identify all responsive emails.

The police department told the counselor that it had not searched officers’ personal emails.

“Moreover, CPD explained, communications of individual officer employees on their privately-owned and personal email accounts were not ‘prepared by or for,’ or ‘used by, received by, in the possession of, or under the control of any public body’ ” and were not subject to FOIA disclosure, the filing stated.

On Aug. 9, Sarah Pratt, the attorney general’s public access counselor, ruled that the police department had violated the Freedom of Information Act, stating: “Any e-mails exchanged by CPD employees concerning the shooting death of Mr. McDonald presumably pertain to those employees’ public duties and therefore accessing them would not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under the plain language of section 7(1)(c) of FOIA.”

Maura Possley, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said: “We plan to defend the public access counselor’s opinion in the administrative review.”

According to Pratt’s Aug. 9 ruling, the 12 officers in question included Jason Van Dyke, the officer charged with fatally shooting McDonald 16 times, and Deputy Chief David McNaughton.

McNaughton retired from the department in August after the city inspector general found he was at fault for determining that Van Dyke’s use of force was proper. In a report, McNaughton wrote that McDonald was approaching Van Dyke when he was shot and the officer was in fear for his life.

The city is asking a judge to find that Pratt erred in the ruling that declared officers’ personal emails as public record.

Top Cop on Video Release: We’re Prepared for Demonstrations

 

Jason VanDyke   Photo courtesy of the Cook County States Attorney office.
Jason VanDyke Photo courtesy of the Cook County States Attorney office.

 

By Bill Cameron, WLS News

(CHICAGO) Now that Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy says he’s preparing for the release of the dash-cam video that caught the officer allegedly shooting McDonald 16 times.

McCarthy says, “I anticipate it’s going to be busy.”

“We’re prepared for demonstrations, let’s put it that way,” McCarthy said. “As we have we’ve fine tuned our plan over the last almost five years that we’ve been here and you’ve watched it happen, you’ve watched the way that we handled it and my mantra is going to be the same one that it always is, which is really simple; we’re going to facilitate and protect people’s First Amendment right to free speech and were going to be intolerant of criminal behavior.”

Listen to Police Supt, McCarthy’s statement to Bill cameron for WLS News:

McCarthy is also reconciling his defense of acquitted detective Dante Servin last April in another police killing with his decision now to seek Servin’s dismissal. He says it’s the difference between criminal charges last April and administrative charges now.

@ 2015 WLS News