A coalition of civil rights attorneys and Chicago community leaders believe that the Cook County state's attorney is not credible to head the investigation of Laquan McDonald's shooting. The group has formally asked through a court petition that a special prosecutor lead the case.
The petition alleges that Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez has special ties with the police force and the officers' union creating a conflict of interest, Chicago Tribune reports. The coalition suspects that her closeness with the Chicago police union is prohibiting her to prosecute Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is charged in Laquan McDonald's shooting in 2014. Alvarez was also criticized for her failure to charge police officers who have committed crimes.
"It is clear that any oversight of this case has been mishandled," former Chicago mayoral candidate Jesus G. "Chuy" Garcia said, adding the allegations that there's possible tampering with audio and video of the incident. "It is clear that there is much that needs to be investigated."
The video of Laquan McDonald's shooting was released in November. It showed that Van Dyke open fired and killed McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014. The police officer shot the black teenager 16 times. Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty in the fatal shooting of McDonald. Meanwhile, Alvarez said that she's pursuing to handle the case. She firmly dismissed the allegations involving her close alignment with the law enforcement.
