Washington:
The police chief of Chicago has been fired by the city mayor following public outrage over a video showing a white officer fatally shooting a black teenager 16 times.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he formally asked Garry F McCarthy, the Chicago police superintendent, for his resignation yesterday, a week after video footage of the shooting was released and the officer was charged with murder.
Emanuel cited a lack of public trust in the police as the reason for the dismissal of McCarthy.
“He has become an issue, rather than dealing with the issue, and a distraction,” Emanuel told reporters after firing McCarthy, who headed America’s second largest law enforcement agency after New York City.
Anger has erupted in Chicago since authorities released footage of Jason Van Dyke, a city police officer, shooting Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old, last year. In the video, Van Dyke is seen firing a volley of shots at McDonald, many of them after the teenager had already fallen to the ground.
“Now is the time for fresh eyes and new leadership to confront the challenges the department and our community and our city are facing as we go forward,” he added.
“The horrifying shooting of McDonald requires more than words of sadness. It requires that we act, that we take more concrete steps to prevent such abuses in the future, secure the rights and safety of all Chicagoans, and build stronger bonds of trust between our police department, the men and women,”Emanuel said.
“While I don’t believe that the actions of Officer Van Dyke reflect the vast majority of the men and women who risk their lives every day to protect our lives, I also know that the use of excessive force and misuse of authority is not new in Chicago,” he said.
After the release of the video, social tension has flared up in Chicago.
The more-than-weeklong protests and public backlash in Chicago and across the country contributed to McCarthy’s ouster, The Chicago Tribune said.
In an editorial local Chicago Sun said now that McCarthy has been fired, Emanuel must find a worthy replacement without making “racial tensions brought to a boil” by the shooting video.
