Ep 121: 16 Shots: Laquan McDonald

Court Junkie

PodcastOne

True Crime, News, Talk Radio, Government

4.8 • 8.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2020

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In October 2014, the shooting death of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer went almost completely unnoticed by the media - at least initially. But after a large settlement was made by the City of Chicago to Laquan McDonald’s family, journalists started asking questions. Pretty soon, the details of what happened would be revealed, and Officer Jason Van Dyke would be charged with murder. Sponsors in this episode: - Talkspace - Go to talkspace.com or download the app and use promo code COURT to get $100 off your first month. - Ritual - Visit ritual.com/COURT to get 10% off during your first three months. - Policygenius - Policygenius makes finding the right home insurance a breeze. In minutes you can compare quotes from the top insurers to find your best price. Visit policygenius.com. - Madison Reed - Get 10% off plus free shipping on your first Color Kit when you go to Madison-Reed.com and use code COURT. - NetSuite - Receive your FREE guide – “Seven Actions Businesses Need to Take Now” and schedule your FREE Product Tour - at NetSuite.com/COURT. This episode was researched and written by Sara Yonker. Please consider supporting Court Junkie with as little as $3 a month via Patreon.com/CourtJunkie to receive ad-free episodes. Help support Court Junkie with $6 a month and get access to bonus monthly episodes. Follow me on Twitter @CourtJunkiePod or Instagram at CourtJunkie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a case that may never have seen a courtroom if it hadn't been for one scared but convicted
0:07.0	eyewitness. He had seen something he was sure was wrong. If he had seen a robbery or witness
0:13.9	to violent shooting, he would have called 911. But what could he do when the death he had
0:19.5	witnessed late one Tuesday night was also witnessed by a handful of police officers and no
0:25.7	one else. And then some of those said police officers filled out reports that they would
0:31.6	later be accused of lying about or at least exaggerating what happened. There were no
0:38.0	shaky cell phone videos of the incident, but there was one man and his son who saw what
0:43.5	happened and there were cameras inside the police cars. In 2014, when many in the nation
0:51.2	were focused on reports of the death of 18 year old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri,
0:56.4	another police officer involved shooting death went almost completely unnoticed, at least initially.
1:03.0	At the time, few news reports mentioned the name of Laquan McDonald, a Chicago teenager who was
1:10.4	shot by police as he wielded a knife. Minutes before, he had slashed the tire of a police car and
1:17.3	reportedly burglarized a truck. Official police reports stated that an officer shot him as he
1:23.9	attempted to attack the officer. But a tip from an eyewitness a few days later suggested that there
1:30.4	was maybe more to the story and prompted an external police review board to probe deeper.
1:37.1	The autopsy revealed that Laquan McDonald was riddled with 16 bullets. Hardly the type of injuries
1:43.8	one would expect for someone to inflict while defending himself against a switchblade 10 to 15
1:49.7	feet away. The questions began to circulate. What really happened that night? Why was Laquan
1:57.5	McDonald shot so many times and had police really been trying to cover it up? Yet despite
2:05.2	external pressure that came from activists, advocates, and the state attorney general,
2:10.6	Chicago police didn't release the video of the shooting. Then came a taxpayer-funded bomb shell.
2:18.6	The city of Chicago offered McDonald's family a $5 million settlement. Suddenly, the public
	...

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