Page 47 - KPA DEC 2,2015

U.S. NEWS A5
Wednesday 2 December

Chicago mayor fires police chief after video release

legations that he used ra- that many murder suspects
cial epithets and excessive had prior gun convictions,
force. Complaints against which McCarthy argued
police are not uncom- should have kept them off
mon, but the number filed the streets.
against Van Dyke was high But the police chief came
compared with other offi- under pressure because of
cers. Emanuel’s office an- homicides that included
nounced Sunday that the high-profile cases such as
police department would the slaying of Hadiya Pend-
expand its use of officer leton.
body cameras from a sin- Also on Tuesday, relatives
gle district to roughly a third of another person fatally
of Chicago. Emanuel cred- shot last year by Chicago
ited McCarthy with mod- police stepped up their
ernizing Chicago’s police pleas to have the squad
force, getting illegal guns car video made public.
off the streets and pushing Emanuel spokeswoman
a community policing strat- Kelley Quinn said the city
egy that the mayor said was “looking into” releas-
had reduced overall crime ing it.
rates to a record low. Police have said 25-year-
In particular, McCarthy was old Ronald Johnson III was
a constant preacher on fatally shot by an officer on
the need for tougher pun- Oct. 12, 2014. A the time,
ishments for gun offenses. authorities said he pointed
He hammered on the fact a gun at police.q

In this 2012 photo, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCar-
thy responds to a question during a news conference in Chica-
go. Chicago’s mayor fired McCarthy on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015,
a week after the release of a dash-cam video that showed a
white officer fatally shooting a black teenager 16 times.

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Continued from Front are trusted by all Chicago-
ans, whoever they are and
Protesters have been call- wherever they live in the
ing for McCarthy’s dismissal city.”
in response to the handling Emanuel introduced Mc-
of the death of Laquan Carthy as his pick to lead
McDonald, a 17-year-old the department in May
who was killed in October 2011, replacing former
2014. FBI agent Jody Weis, who
Some aldermen, particu- was unpopular with many
larly members of the city rank-and-file officers who
council’s black caucus, claimed Weis did not stand
have also been seeking behind them.
McCarthy’s resignation, Alderman Howard Brookins
citing the city’s crime rate Jr., a member of the black
and questions about the caucus, said he appreciat-
department transparency. ed Emanuel’s “willingness
The city released video to change course.”
of the shooting only after Chief of Detectives John
a judge ordered it to be Escalante will oversee the
made public. Last week’s department until a per-
release set off several days manent replacement is
of largely peaceful pro- named, Emanuel said.
tests. On the same day, of- The mayor also announced
ficer Jason Van Dyke was the creation of a task force
charged with murder. on police accountability
“Any case of excessive that will help develop an
force or abuse of author- early warning system al-
ity undermines the entire lowing the department to
force and the trust we intervene with problem
must build with every com- officers racking up com-
munity in the city,” the plaints from the public.
mayor said. Police officers Van Dyke was the subject
are only effective “if they of 18 civilian complaints
over 14 years, including al-