Acting Chief Administrator for the Independent Police Review Authority Sharon Fairley has asked the Office of the Inspector General to investigate the Laquan McDonald case.
In a press release, Fairley said that while there is an active federal criminal investigation into the incident, “we must also take what steps we can to determine how and why the case reports filed by police that night appear to differ from what we have all seen for ourselves.”
“Public confidence in the investigation will be enhanced if it is conducted from this point forward by an agency that has had no involvement with the matter and can bring a fresh look at facts,” Fairley’s statement added.
The same release also announced that the IPRA was also reopening its investigation into the death of Phillip Coleman, a Chicago man who died in police custody in 2012.
Jason Van Dyke, the officer accused of fatally shooting McDonald 16 times in October 2014, was charged with first-degree murder.
It is reportedly the first time a Chicago officer has been charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty shooting in nearly 35 years.
Attorney Dan Herbert has argued the video alone is not enough to determine if Van Dyke "acted inappropriately" when he fatally shot McDonald, though he has described the footage as "graphic and violent" and "difficult to watch." He said outside the courtroom Tuesday that the case needs to be tried in a courtroom, "not in the streets or in the media."
