The Latest: State lawmaker files Chicago mayor recall bill
CHICAGO (AP) — The latest developments in Chicago’s efforts to deal with fatal police shootings and police accountability (all times local):
7:30 p.m.
An Illinois state representative has introduced a plan that could allow for the recall of Chicago’s mayor.
Democratic Rep. La Shawn Ford filed legislation Wednesday outlining a lengthy process for a city special election.
Ford tells Chicago’s WBBM-TV that people have lost confidence in Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The proposal would allow a recall election to be initiated by a petition with signatures totaling at least 15 percent of the total votes cast in the previous mayoral election, with at least 50 signatures from each Chicago ward. Challengers would need 12,500 signatures to get on the ballot.
Ford’s plan faces a difficult road, including approval from the Democratic-majority House and Senate.
There have been regular calls for Emanuel’s resignation since officials released footage showing a white police officer fatally shooting a black teenager in 2014.
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The bill is HB4356
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6:05 p.m.
Protests that snaked through downtown Chicago streets for hours after Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s speech appear to have dispersed, though other demonstrations may take place in the evening hours.
The largely peaceful protests went on for miles and through a high-end shopping district and neighborhoods, disrupting traffic. Similar protests have taken place in the days since the city released video footage showing the 2014 fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer.
Emanuel gave a rare address before the Chicago City Council on Wednesday and apologized.
Protesters, including prominent clergy members, have called for his resignation.
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5:15 p.m.
The family of a man who died after being held in police custody in 2012 says Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s apology doesn’t go far enough.
Emanuel spoke Wednesday before the City Council on the crisis facing police following the release of a video of Laquan McDonald’s 2014 shooting at the hands of police. The city fought its release for months before making it public on Nov. 24.
Other videos have since been released including footage showing police officers using a stun gun and dragging Philip Coleman from a jail cell in 2012.
Coleman’s family says in a statement that Emanuel’s speech was “disingenuous” and the apology should have mentioned Philip Coleman.
The family has said Coleman was mentally ill and should have been taken to a hospital and not jail. He was taken into custody after allegedly attacking his mother. Officials say he died later at a hospital after a reaction to an anti-psychotic drug.
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5 p.m.
The new head of a body that investigates allegations of wrongdoing by Chicago police says she’s reopening the investigation of a black man who died in 2012 after officers used a stun gun on him and dragged him from a jail cell.
The Independent Police Review Authority’s chief, Sharon Fairley, said Wednesday in an emailed statement that there are “serious questions” about 38-year-old Philip Coleman’s treatment.
The half-dozen officers were previously cleared of wrongdoing.
The city released a video this week of officers, several of whom are black, using the stun gun, then dragging an apparently unconscious Coleman, who was black, away. He’d been jailed after allegedly attacking his mother.
Officials have said he died later at a hospital after a reaction to an anti-psychotic drug.
But Coleman’s family says he’d be alive if he’d been initially taken to a hospital instead of jail. They’ve filed a civil lawsuit.
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3:40 p.m.
Chicago officials are asking for another investigation into the 2014 shooting death of a black teenager by a white police officer, a video of which was released last month and sparked several protests.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the new head of the agency that investigates police shootings said Wednesday that while the U.S. Attorney’s Office is examining statements made by other officers on the scene when Officer Jason Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald, they want Chicago’s inspector general to launch his own probe.
Officers’ reports portrayed McDonald as more threatening than he appeared on the video. That triggered accusations of a police cover-up.
Sharon Fairley, the new head of the city’s Independent Police Review Authority, said it was important for “public confidence” that the inspector general get involved.
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3:10 p.m.
A group of protesters is marching down one of Chicago’s most well-known business districts and blocking traffic hours after Mayor Rahm Emanuel apologized for the 2014 death of a black teenager killed by a white officer.
Protesters walked down the Magnificent Mile, stopping at intersections and disrupting motorists. Several similar protests have taken place since Chicago officials released squad car video Nov. 24 that showed the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white, has been charged with first-degree murder.
The protests have largely been peaceful, with demonstrators calling for Emanuel and the county’s top prosecutor to resign.
The video also led to the forced resignation of the city’s police chief and multiple investigations, including a pending civil rights inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department.
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2:40 p.m.
A predominantly peaceful group of protesters has blocked Michigan Avenue hours after Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s speech to the City Council on the Chicago Police Department.
There was a small bit of pushing and shoving with officers on Wednesday afternoon as the protesters tried to get to one of downtown’s main streets, but eventually police let them through. The protesters then formed a circle in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.
Protesters also appeared to be headed for a bridge near the Magnificent Mile, which was the site of a Black Friday protest.
Wednesday’s march is the latest in several weeks of protests following the release of video showing a white police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times in October 2014.
The video also led to the forced resignation of the city’s police chief and multiple investigations, including a pending civil rights inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department.
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12:30 p.m.
Two alderman support Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s address to the City Council, saying that the Laquan McDonald video was key to sparking calls for police reform.
Alderman Anthony Beale said Wednesday he was sorry about what happened to McDonald, a black teenager who was shot 16 times and killed by a white police officer. He added that the video was a “game-changer” in the community and helped people understand “the frustration of what we are dealing with.”
Beale represents a large portion of Chicago’s South Side.
Alderman Leslie Hairston, whose ward also encompasses parts of the South Side, including the University of Chicago, backed Emanuel’s comments about people being treated differently because of their skin color.
She said she was “denied access” to the council’s chamber Wednesday until she produced ID “even though my picture was on the wall.” She said her white colleagues walked in without having to show ID.
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11:45 a.m.
Lawyers in a 2013 Chicago police shooting case say the city keeps fighting the release of video despite pledges of greater transparency.
The comments followed a Wednesday hearing in a civil case brought by Cedrick Chatman’s family. He was a suspect in a car theft when an officer fatally shot him.
A judge will rule Jan. 14 on whether to order its release. City lawyers say its release will make a fair trial difficult.
The quasi-independent review authority found the officer did nothing wrong.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave a speech Wednesday on the crisis facing police following the release of a video of Laquan McDonald’s 2014 shooting. The city fought its release for months before making it public on Nov. 24.
Chatman family lawyer Brian Coffman says Emanuel’s new refrain is transparency. If that’s true, he says Emanuel should order the video’s release.
City lawyers didn’t comment.
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10 a.m.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel says “no citizen is a second-class citizen in the city of Chicago.”
The mayor delivered a powerful, emotional address Wednesday to the City Council on the crisis of trust in policing as the city grapples with fallout from a video showing a white officer shooting a black teenager 16 times.
Emanuel said that in addition to better community policing, Chicago must confront “underlying challenges of family, of poverty, of joblessness, or hopelessness.”
The mayor was near tears when he recalled a question from a young man who had had run-ins with the law. The mayor said he asked him, “Do you think the police would ever treat you the way they treat me?”
The mayor said Chicago’s police must patiently build relationships, sit with parents, sit with youths, listen and be mentors.
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9:30 a.m.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel says it’s an unacceptable that there are parents in Chicago who feel they must warn their children to be wary of police officers.
The embattled mayor addressed the City Council on Wednesday regarding the policing crisis that has led to a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation.
He said gun violence has become “normalized” as the city grapples with gang violence and how to reform a police force with a decades-old reputation for brutality.
Emanuel says there is a “trust problem” between people and the police.
He says the city and the police, in particular, “have a responsibility to win back the trust.”
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9:20 a.m.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has apologized for the 2014 killing of a black teenager who was shot 16 times by a white police officer.
In a speech before the City Council, Emanuel said Wednesday that the police force needs “complete and total reform.”
Emanuel has been engulfed in a media firestorm since a video was released two weeks ago showing the 2014 death of Laquan McDonald. Officer Jason Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder.
Emanuel also said that the reforms must go beyond the police department and that Chicago needs to “reset our values.”
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7:45 a.m.
At least four different groups are planning protests throughout the day in and around Chicago’s City Hall to draw attention to cases of alleged abuse by police officers. At least one group says it is demanding Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s resignation.
Emanuel will deliver an address Wednesday morning about the police department to a special City Council session.
The release last month of a video showing the 2014 killing of a black teenager by a white police officer has set off weeks of largely peaceful protests and led to the dismissal of the city’s police chief.
The first of Wednesday’s protests, by a group called the Coalition for a New Chicago, is planned for 8 a.m. inside City Hall.
Less than an hour later, a group of Christian clergy plans to gather at an entrance to the building. Two other demonstrations are planned, at City Hall and in a nearby plaza.
On Thursday, a 5 p.m. rally is planned by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression.
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This story has been corrected to show that the 5 p.m. rally is planned for Thursday, not Wednesday.
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1:00 a.m.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has called a special City Council meeting to give an address about Chicago’s police department — the center of the biggest crisis of his administration.
Wednesday morning’s speech will come two days after U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a Justice Department civil rights investigation to determine if there are patterns of racial disparity in the police department’s use of force.
Emanuel has been engulfed in a media firestorm since a video was released two weeks ago showing the killing of a black teenager by a white police officer who shot him 16 times. Since then, Emanuel has forced the police superintendent to resign, brought in a new head of an agency that investigates police shootings and fended off calls for his own resignation.
Several groups have planned for protests Wednesday at City Hall and a nearby plaza.