Chicago officer’s partner testifies at murder trial

The partner of a white Chicago police officer charged in the death of a black teenager has testified that the victim still posed a threat after he was shot and fell to the ground. 

Former officer Joseph Walsh was Jason Van Dyke’s police partner the night 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot dead in Chicago in 2014.

Walsh testified on Tuesday under a grant of immunity during the second day of Van Dyke’s murder trial. Walsh is among three officers indicted on charges they conspired to cover up how the 2014 killing of McDonald happened.

McDonald was carrying a small knife in his right hand and was running down the middle of a street as officers pursued him after reports that someone was breaking into vehicles in a trucking yard. 

Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke listens during the second day of his murder trial for the 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald on Tuesday

Walsh said that after he and Van Dyke got out of their squad car to confront McDonald, he saw the 17-year-old raise his right arm and ‘swing that up to shoulder level … in our direction.’ 

Video of the shooting does not confirm Walsh’s account, but the officer testified that it was taken from a different angle than his vantage point.

Van Dyke continued shooting McDonald after the teenager fell to the ground, firing a total of 16 shots. Walsh was next to Van Dyke with his own gun drawn, but testified that he chose not to shoot.

Walsh told the jury on Tuesday that he believed McDonald still posed a threat even when he fell to the ground because he never lost hold of his knife.  

Prosecutors have stressed that no other officers who encountered McDonald opened fire. Van Dyke’s attorneys have said he was scared for his life and the life of others and acted as he was trained to do.

The video of McDonald’s shooting was shown to jurors at least five times during the initial day of testimony on Monday. A video image of McDonald body lying in the street is displayed in court on Tuesday (above)

Laquan McDonald (pictured) was 17-years-old, when he was walking away from officers while armed with a knife. He was shot 16 times by Van Dyke who is claiming self-defense 

It comes after the video of McDonald’s shooting was shown to jurors at least five times during the initial day of testimony on Monday. 

The first was just 15 minutes into the prosecution’s opening statements. 

The recordings show the officer shooting McDonald on October 20, 2014, as the 17-year-old – carrying a small knife in one hand – walks away from officers. V

Van Dyke’s defense lawyer showed the knife in the court room, dramatically motioning with the three-inch blade. 

Former officer Joseph Walsh was Jason Van Dyke’s police partner the night 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot dead in Chicago in 2014. He is pictured above in July last year

‘He shot him… not once, not twice, but three, four, five, six seven, eight – he’s only half way done – nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 times in total,’ special prosecutor Joseph McMahon told jurors, rapping his knuckles on a lectern each time he said a number. 

Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct. 

 ‘Not a single shot was necessary or justified,’ he said at another point in his opening statement.

But defense attorney Daniel Herbert argued that Van Dyke ‘is not a murderer. … He is a scared police officer who was fearful for his life and the life of others and acted as he was trained to do.’

Herbert also argued that the number of shots fired was irrelevant: ‘They didn’t charge him with shooting too many times. They charged him with first-degree murder.’

The video’s release about a year after the shooting sparked large protests, demanding the police superintendent be fired and police reform. 

Herbert painted a picture of McDonald as a crazed teenager who had attacked a truck driver and a squad car and had tried to get into two restaurants. He said McDonald had flicked his folding knife open when Van Dyke pulled up.

McDonald was ‘planning to attack’ again, Herbert said. ‘He’s not trying to escape.’

He and McMahon both noted McDonald had the hallucinogenic drug PCP in his system.

Special prosecutor Joseph McMahon holds McDonald’s knife at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Monday before showing jurors video of Van Dyke shooting the victim

This undated autopsy diagram provided by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office shows the location of wounds on the body of McDonald who was shot 16 times 

But McMahon said Van Dyke didn’t know that – or anything else about McDonald – when he opened fire just six seconds after getting out of his squad car.

‘What he did see was a black boy walking down a street with a chain link fence with the audacity to ignore the police,’ McMahon said.

Herbert took the prosecutor to task for bringing up race.

‘The government wants to you think this is a racial issue,’ he told jurors. ‘Race had absolutely nothing to do with this.’

During later testimony, prosecutors showed side-by-side videos of the shooting from different squad cars and from surveillance cameras at a nearby Dunkin Donuts. At one point, prosecutors stopped the video just as McDonald was shot and then as he lay on the ground. 

Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk