In the city of Chicago, police officers are rarely charged with murder. So it would follow that they are also rarely charged with trying to cover one up.
But in regard to the investigation of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, a three-count indictment was handed down today charging cops with conspiracy, obstruction and misconduct in regard to the investigation of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Detective David March and Patrol Officers Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney were each charged. McDonald was shot 16 times in October of 2014 by officer Jason Van Dyke, who was charged with murder in late 2015 after a Cook County judge ordered the police dash cam recording of the shooting to be released.
Police release video of Laquan McDonald’s shooting
Chicago police have released dashcam video showing the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
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.
March, Walsh and Gaffney are accused of lying repeatedly about what happened and mischaracterizing the video recordings so that investigators would not learn the truth about the killing. All three officers, who each have more than 20 years of experience on the force, are expected to be arraigned July 10th.
