Chicago releases full investigation into 2014 Laquan McDonald shooting

Chicago’s law department on Wednesday released the full investigation into the 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, by a white police officer.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot pushed for the release of the report to “shine a light” on police misconduct and in an attempt to regain public trust, The Associated Press reported.

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel attempted to withhold footage from a dashcam, which revealed that Officer Jason Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times.When a judge ordered the tape’s release, it showed McDonald did not charge at the officers as they had claimed.

The video sparked protests in the city and calls for changes to police conduct, at a time when similar protests were happening in cities across the nation after similar fatal shootings of black men and boys.

{mosads}Details from the reports line up with information revealed during the trial of Van Dyke, which ended in his conviction for second-degree murder. Three other officers were acquitted of trying to cover up the shooting, according to AP.

Some new information indicated that one officer destroyed evidence, including notes from other officers based on interviews with witnesses. He was recommended to be fired but had retired in 2016, according to the news wire.

The Chicago Tribune had also published stories based on many pages of the Inspector General reports when they were confidential.

The City Council unanimously decided to pass an ordinance last month allowing the Inspector General’s office reports to be published if cases involved a death, possible felony or is “of a compelling public interest,” AP reported.

The police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, was against the publication of these reports saying officers would be “tried in the media and not in the courtroom,” the AP reported.