Cop in Chicago shooting had history of complaints

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Chicago officer had prior offenses A Chicago police officer charged with the murder of Laquan McDonald has a documented history of complaints. Charged on Nov. 24 with first-degree murder, Jason Van Dyke was also fired from the force on the same day. During his 14-year tenure with t

The white Chicago police officer charged with first-degree murder in the killing of a black teenager in 2014 was named in at least 20 citizen complaints between 2008 and 2013, including allegations of misconduct in the use of force.

Jason Van Dyke, a 14-year veteran on the Chicago police force, did not face any disciplinary action in any of the cases. Investigations into the complaints, which included allegations of excessive use of force, verbal abuse and excessive force involving a firearm, ended with a finding of "not sustained" in five cases, "unfounded" in five, "exonerated" in four, an "unknown" outcome in five, and "no action" taken in one case.

Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Laquan McDonald, 17, who was shot 16 times while walking in the middle of the street with a knife in his hand.

Van Dyke, who is married with two children, has been jailed pending a second bond hearing on Monday.

Van Dyke's attorney Daniel Herbert says his client feared for his life after officers answered a call on the night of Oct. 20, 2014, about a young man acting erratically. A Chicago police union official told reporters soon after the incident that McDonald, who had PCP in his system at the time of his death and was holding a knife with a three-inch blade, lunged at the officer.

The case sparked street protests in downtown Chicago this week after the release of a police dash-cam video indicating that McDonald was walking away from the officer at the time and was hit several times after falling to the ground in an initial volley. None of the five other officers on the scene fired a shot, according to authorities.

McDonald's mother has received $5 million from the city over the incident.

The database of past complaints against Chicago officers is not comprehensive, covering only two periods, from 2002 to 2008 and 2011 to 2015. It represents complaints filed against more than 8,500 Chicago police officers in a force of around 12,000, according to the Citizens Police Data Project.

The database was compiled by the Invisible Institute and the University of Chicago Law School's Mandel Legal Aid Clinic based on information the Chicago Police Department released following litigation and Freedom of Information Act requests.

It shows that Van Dyke is among 402 officers with 20 or more complaints on file in the database. One officer tops the list with 68 complaints. In some of the complaints against Van Dyke, at least one other officer is also named.

"We don't have all of Van Dyke's complaints but the complaints of, the misconduct complaints from Van Dyke that we do have in our data tool show by and large excessive force and racial slurs," Alison Flowers, of the Invisible Institute, tells WLS-TV. "And he has largely operated with impunity and under a code of silence with the same huddle of officers again and again."

In addition, Van Dyke was named in two lawsuits alleging excessive force. One was dismissed, but in the second lawsuit, involving Van Dyke and a partner in 2007, a federal jury awarded Edward Nance, an African-American, $350,000 plus legal fees.

Nance, who works for a cable company, had complained that he was so violently handcuffed that his shoulders were injured and required surgery. He told the Chicago Tribune earlier this year that he was struck by the nonchalant look on the officers' faces when the verdict was returned.

"They looked like, OK, so what, go (back) to work," Nance told the newspaper. "They was back on the street like nothing ever happened."

When informed in April that Van Dyke was the officer involved in the 2014 shooting, Nance responded: "It just makes me so sad because it shouldn't have happened. He shouldn't have been on the street in the first place after my incident."