Police report in Laquan McDonald case at odds with video

CHICAGO— Hundreds of pages of police documents released late Friday evening from the investigation of the police officer shooting death of Laquan McDonald show that cops at the scene offered a starkly different picture of what led to fellow officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times than what a dashcam video released last week depicts.

The court-ordered release of the jarring video of the 17-year-old McDonald being gunned down last year by a police officer on a Chicago street appears to show that the teen had been shot as he was veering away from police officers.

But police officers who were at the scene offered a different narrative in which they back Van Dyke's contention that he fired because he feared for his life. Van Dyke and five other officers at the scene gave statements after the shooting in which they say McDonald, who was holding a knife, was moving toward Van Dyke when the officer fired, according to the newly-released documents. The documents were released late Friday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration.

Hours before the city released the video last week, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez announced she was charging Van Dyke with first-degree murder, nearly 400 days after the incident.

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Prosecutors say Van Dyke fired within seconds of getting out of his vehicle. While several officers were at the scene, Van Dyke was the only officer to shoot and fired 13 of the 16 shots at McDonald while the teenager was lying on the ground, according to prosecutors.

Officers were dispatched to the area after receiving a 911 call that McDonald was holding a knife with a 3-inch blade and had been breaking into vehicles in a busy area on the city's Southwest Side. Prosecutors say McDonald had PCP in his system at the time of his death.

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The release of the video has touched off days of peaceful protest in Chicago and calls from activists for the resignations of Emanuel and Alvarez. The protesters charge that Alvarez and Emanuel covered up the case. The two elected officials say they've acted in good faith and won't resign.

Emanuel, however, on Tuesday fired his police superintendent Garry McCarthy, citing "shaken and eroded" trust in police leadership over the incident.

The Emanuel administration has also come under fire, because the dashcam video of the incident lacks audio, something McCarthy had attributed to technical difficulties. In addition, police and prosecutors have had trouble explaining how 86-minutes of security camera footage from a nearby Burger King security camera was deleted.

After the shooting, Van Dyke told investigators that McDonald "raised the knife across his chest and over his shoulder, pointing the knife" at him before he opened fire, according to the police documents. Van Dyke told investigators he believed that McDonald was attempting to kill him.

"In defense of his life, Van Dyke backpedaled and fired his handgun at McDonald, to stop the attack," according to the report from Van Dyke's initial interview with investigators. "McDonald fell to the ground but continued to move and continued to grasp the knife, refusing to let go of it."

Van Dyke told investigators he continued to fire his weapon at McDonald while he was on the ground, because the teen "appeared to be attempt(ing) to get up, all the while continuing to point the knife" at him.

In a subsequent interview, Van Dyke told investigators that he was aware at the time he fired at McDonald that the teen had punctured the tire of a police vehicle moments before.

In a second interview, Van Dyke also spoke of the theory in the law enforcement community that an assailant with a knife is considered a deadly threat if within 21 feet.

He also relayed concerns about a police safety bulletin that was issued to CPD officers nearly two years earlier warning of a weapon "which appeared to be a knife but which actually was capable of firing a bullet, making it a firearm."

Officer Joseph Walsh, Van Dyke's partner, said that he "backed up" as McDonald got to within 12 to 15 feet of the officers and "swung the knife toward the officers in an aggressive manner." Walsh said he and Van Dyke repeatedly called on McDonald to drop the knife.

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In the video, McDonald can been seen walking down the middle of a thoroughfare.

He appears to be walking away from police when he's first struck. About two seconds after he falls and is lying on his side, two puffs of smoke can be seen. Prosecutors said the puffs of smoke were clouds of debris caused by fired bullets. The last visible shot was fired about 13 seconds later and his body has jerked and his arms have moved slightly, while he lays on the ground. At that point, Walsh approaches McDonald and kicks a small knife the teen is holding in his hand.

Another police officer at the scene, Dora Fontaine, said she heard officers repeatedly order McDonald to drop the knife but that he instead "raised his right arm toward Officer Van Dyke, as if attacking Van Dyke."

Fontaine's partner Officer Ricardo Viramontes said McDonald "fell to the ground" after he was shot "but continued to move, attempting to get back up, with the knife still in his hand," according to police documents.

One of two other officers who were the first to respond to calls that McDonald had been breaking into trucks in the area said that when he first approached McDonald the teen had his hands in his pockets. The officer, Joseph McElligott, said that when McDonald pulled his hands out of his pockets he noticed that he had a knife in one hand.

McElligott continued to follow McDonald on foot but kept a distance. His partner Thomas Gaffney remained in their vehicle and requested assistance from a unit with a taser, according to McElligott's statement.

Gaffney would try to use the vehicle to block McDonald from continuing to walk away from them, according to police documents. At that point, the officers said that McDonald stabbed at the police vehicle and punctured a tire with the knife.

The officers said they then could hear sirens as backup officers approached the scene and McDonald began running away.

McElligott ran after McDonald and then heard multiple gunshots. But he told investigators that he did not see who fired, according to police documents.

Officer Janet Mondragon said she when came upon the scene in her police vehicle she saw McElligott running. She said she also saw Van Dyke and Walsh repeatedly ordering McDonald to drop the knife and that McDonald was getting closer to officers, while waving his knife, according to her statement.

"As she was placing her vehicle transmission into park, Mondragon looked down. and heard multiple, continuous gunshots, without pause," according to the police documents. "She then saw McDonald fall to the ground. Mondragon did not know who fired the shots."