Chicago’s police routinely used excessive force, tolerated racially discriminatory conduct and often maintained a “code of silence” among officers to thwart investigations into misconduct, federal officials said in a blistering report released on Friday.
The U.S. Department of Justice civil rights probe began in December 2015 following the release of video footage showing Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, being fatally shot by white police officer Jason Van Dyke. The video’s release sparked several days of protests and led to the ouster of Chicago’s police chief and calls for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign. Continue reading “U.S. Justice Department blasts Chicago police over excessive force”