{"id":71993,"date":"2018-10-04T15:14:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T20:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=71993"},"modified":"2018-10-10T08:06:43","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T13:06:43","slug":"van-dyke-suggested-shooting-mcdonald-before-arriving-on-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/van-dyke-suggested-shooting-mcdonald-before-arriving-on-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Dyke suggested shooting McDonald before arriving on scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Becky Dernbach<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

A defense witness revealed this week that Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was talking about shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald before he ever saw him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t they shoot him if he\u2019s attacking them?\u201d Van Dyke asked when he first heard the radio reports that McDonald had popped a squad car\u2019s tire with a knife. Still a block and a half from the scene, he said to his partner, \u201cOh my God, we\u2019re going to have to shoot the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychologist Laurence Miller, an expert witness in forensic and police psychology, confirmed these comments during cross examination. He testified that Van Dyke reported these reactions to him in an interview about the night of the fatal shooting, Oct. 20, 2014.\u00a0Van Dyke confirmed the comments as well during cross-examination when he took the stand Tuesday in his own defense.<\/p>\n

The prosecution in Van Dyke’s murder trial repeatedly stressed these comments in closing arguments Thursday before sending the officer’s case to the jury. The jury of 12, including just one black member, is now deliberating the fate of Van Dyke, the white police officer who shot black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times. Van Dyke faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and official misconduct. The jury also has the option to consider charges of second-degree murder, an option offered during jury instructions by Judge Vincent Gaughan in Cook County criminal court.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defense attorneys stressed throughout the case that Van Dyke acted in self-defense out of fear for his life and the lives of others.<\/p>\n

Miller spent most of his testimony detailing the brain\u2019s response and memory formation in an emergency situation. Asked if Van Dyke\u2019s reaction matched that of a reasonable officer, Miller chose his words carefully. \u201cFaced with the perceptual reality of what Jason Van Dyke was experiencing, the answer would be yes,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s testimony came just before Van Dyke took the stand, a defense decision that had been kept tightly under wraps until the last moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the stand, Van Dyke repeatedly described McDonald as a \u201cmale black with black hoodie and blue jeans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHis face had no expression,\u201d Van Dyke said. \u201cHis eyes were just bugging out of his head. He had just these huge white eyes, just staring right through me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Van Dyke\u2019s testimony at times differed starkly from the video evidence showing the shooting. He described a series of motions he alleged McDonald made with the knife, but these motions are not evident in either the dashcam video or the defense’s animation\u00a0 produced to show Van Dyke\u2019s perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Van Dyke described the fatal encounter, he choked up, wiping tears from his eyes. He yelled at McDonald to drop the knife, he said, but McDonald \u201cnever stopped\u201d advancing toward him. \u201cI shot him,\u201d he said, though he didn\u2019t know how many times or whether McDonald had been hit. Even when McDonald had fallen to the ground from the gunshots, Van Dyke considered him a threat, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI could see him starting to push up off the ground, I could still see him holding that knife with his right hand, not letting go of it,\u201d Van Dyke said. \u201cHis face is still bugged out, no expression on it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Neither the dashcam video nor the defense team\u2019s animation video shows McDonald pushing off the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n

On cross-examination, the prosecution pressed Van Dyke on inconsistencies in his story. At times, the tone of his answers turned curt.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen did you make a decision to stop shooting?\u201d assistant special prosecutor Jody Gleason asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he was on the ground,\u201d Van Dyke said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut you kept shooting when he was on the ground?\u201d Gleason challenged.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I reassessed the situation I did fire after that, yes I did,\u201d Van Dyke said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in a press conference after Tuesday\u2019s testimony, pointed to Van Dyke\u2019s initial comments about shooting Laquan McDonald as \u201cpremeditation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not remorseful,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cHe was not contrite.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, described Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke\u2019s words as he approached the scene as \u201cpremeditation\u201d in a press conference after Tuesday\u2019s testimony. Laquan McDonald’s great-uncle Rev. Marvin Hunter (right), disputed Van Dyke’s testimony. (Becky Z. Dernbach\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Becky Dernbach Medill Reports A defense witness revealed this week that Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was talking about shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald before he ever saw him. \u201cWhy don\u2019t they shoot him if he\u2019s attacking them?\u201d Van Dyke asked when he first heard the radio reports that McDonald had popped a squad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":71998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2951,30,675],"tags":[1235,1423,587,192],"class_list":["post-71993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-politicsnational-security","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","tag-black-lives-matter","tag-jason-van-dyke","tag-laquan-mcdonald","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nVan Dyke suggested shooting McDonald before arriving on scene - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/van-dyke-suggested-shooting-mcdonald-before-arriving-on-scene\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Van Dyke suggested shooting McDonald before arriving on scene - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Becky Dernbach Medill Reports A defense witness revealed this week that Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was talking about shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald before he ever saw him. \u201cWhy don\u2019t they shoot him if he\u2019s attacking them?\u201d Van Dyke asked when he first heard the radio reports that McDonald had popped a squad […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/van-dyke-suggested-shooting-mcdonald-before-arriving-on-scene\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-04T20:14:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-10T13:06:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/10\/Van-Dyke-trial-sized.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"605\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"beckydernbach2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"beckydernbach2019\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/van-dyke-suggested-shooting-mcdonald-before-arriving-on-scene\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/van-dyke-suggested-shooting-mcdonald-before-arriving-on-scene\/\",\"name\":\"Van Dyke suggested shooting McDonald before arriving on scene - 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Jesse Jackson, center, described Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke\u2019s words as he approached the scene as \u201cpremeditation\u201d in a press conference after Tuesday\u2019s testimony. Marvin Hunter, right, disputed Van Dyke's testimony. (Becky Z. 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