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Chicago Mayor Emanuel Asks Police Chief To Resign

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy appear at a news conference on Tuesday in Chicago.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy appear at a news con­fer­ence on Tuesday in Chicago.

Amid grow­ing crit­i­cism, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he has asked the city’s top police offi­cer to step down.

After announc­ing that he was appoint­ing a task force to look at police account­abil­i­ty, Rahm said that “pub­lic trust” in the city’s police force has been “shak­en” and “erod­ed” so he has asked Superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign.

Of course, this comes about a week after a court order forced the city to release a videoshow­ing the police shoot­ing death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The black teenag­er was gunned down on Oct. 20, 2014.

The video shows Officer Jason Van Dyke shoot McDonald 16 times short­ly after Van Dyke stepped out of his vehi­cle. Right before the video’s release on Nov. 24, pros­e­cu­tors announced they would charge Van Dyke with first-degree murder.

Since then, pro­test­ers have tak­en to the streets, and many peo­ple — includ­ing the edi­to­r­i­al board of the Chicago Sun-Times — have called on McCarthy to quit or for Emanuel to fire him. Others have asked for Emanuel’s res­ig­na­tion, accus­ing the city of attempt­ing to cov­er up the shoot­ing by try­ing to block the video’s release for about a year.

Emanuel defend­ed McCarthy’s tenure, say­ing that he had brought crime rates down using com­mu­ni­ty polic­ing tac­tics. Still, the may­or said, a police chief is only as “effec­tive as the trust that the com­mu­ni­ty” places in him.

“Now is the time for fresh eyes and new lead­er­ship,” Emanuel said.

He added that his admin­is­tra­tion had opposed the release of the video to ensure the integri­ty of the inves­ti­ga­tion into the incident.

Emanuel was asked if he had been try­ing to block the release so that it would­n’t hurt his bid for re-elec­tion ahead of the vote last spring.

“I said a long time ago that upon the com­ple­tion of the inves­ti­ga­tion, the video would be released,” Emanuel said. The video, he said, was released hours after the inves­ti­ga­tion was com­plet­ed and charges were filed.

The may­or said fed­er­al author­i­ties were look­ing into the McDonald’s shoot­ing and so would this new task force.
Chicago Mayor Emanuel Asks Police Chief To Resign