White Chicago cop goes on trial for black teen shooting death

Police officer Jason Van Dyke is facing murder charges for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times

CHICAGO: The hotly anticipated trial of a white Chicago cop over the fatal shooting of a black teenager an incident that roiled America's third-largest city in months of protests was set to begin on Wednesday with jury selection.

Police officer Jason Van Dyke faces murder charges for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in an October 2014 confrontation.

The incident, captured on police dash-cam video, has upended the city's politics and left residents on edge fearing violence could break out if the officer is acquitted.

McDonald's family, in rare public comments, urged people to remain peaceful.



The start of the trial in downtown Chicago was expected to be met with demonstrations, as potential jury members gathered inside for a selection process that could take days.

Police video of the shooting shows Van Dyke firing bullets into the knife-wielding teen, who appeared to have been walking away from officers. The officer continues to fire after the teen collapses to the ground.

None of the other officers at the scene fired their weapons.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune newspaper last week, Van Dyke said: "I never would have fired my gun if I didn't think my life was in jeopardy or another citizen's life was."

The video, which was filmed from a distance and has no audio, was initially withheld from the public for a year, until a judge compelled its release.

The political fallout claimed the jobs of the city's police chief and lead prosecutor.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, once a star of the Democratic party, announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election, after years of unrelenting calls to resign amid accusations of an attempted cover-up.

"This case is a very high-profile case," said Father Michael Pfleger, a pastor on Chicago's South Side and an outspoken anti-gun violence activist.

"We've got to see justice or there's going to be a mass amount of folks that just say, you know what, I no longer believe in the system," Pfleger said.

McDonald's family, through a spokesperson, called for calm.

"We are asking for complete peace," the teen's great uncle Martin Hunter told a Tuesday news conference.



"We don't want any violence before, during or after the verdict in this trial," he said.

The trial will test the justice system's ability to wrest a conviction in a high-profile police shooting case.

A series of such incidents around the country, publicized by smartphone and police video, have given rise to the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

But prosecutions, let alone guilty verdicts, have proven rare.