CHICAGO (AP) – A prosecutor says the three Chicago police officers charged with falsifying their reports about the fatal police shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald told the same lies to protect the officer who pulled the trigger.
In her closing argument Thursday afternoon, Special Prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes told Cook County Judge Domenica Stephenson that no objective viewer of the dashcam video that shows Officer Jason Van Dyke shoot McDonald 16 times could conclude, as the officers wrote, that McDonald was about to attack Van Dyke.
Former Officer Joseph Walsh, Officer Thomas Gaffney, and ex-Detective David March are charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and official misconduct. Attorneys for the three are also giving closing statements Thursday.
Van Dyke was convicted in October of second-degree murder in McDonald’s death.
