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Chicago police chief fired amid tension over black teen's killing

Xinhua, December 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chicago's police chief Garry McCarthy was fired Tuesday, a week after tensions flared up over the release of a graphic video showing shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald by a white police officer.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel said at a press conference that Superintendent McCarthy had become a distraction, and that he called McCarthy early Tuesday morning to fire him.

The mayor also said he created a task force and appointed what he called "five respected Chicagoans" to review police training and practices.

John Escalante, the Chicago Police Department's former second-in-command, has now been named interim Chicago police superintendent.

The announcement came a week after police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 17-year-old McDonald.

Tensions heightened in the Midwestern city after the release of the video on the same day showing Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times after the teenager walked away from him.

On Friday, more than 1,000 protesters took to Chicago's most bustling shopping street, disrupting business on Americans' busiest shopping day of the year, to protest the fatal shooting and the city's handling of the case.

Protesters called for the resignation of the police superintendent and a top prosecutor over the case which took the prosecutor 13 months to announce charges.

There also have been numerous calls for McCarthy to resign published in top U.S. and Chicago newspapers.

At the press conference, the Chicago mayor said he was responsible for what happened in the case, the same as the police superintendent.

"I'm responsible. I don't shirk that responsibility," Emanuel said. "This is not the end of a problem, this is the beginning of a solution."

The creation of the task force was aimed to rebuild trust in the police department of one of the country's largest cities, he added.

Officer Van Dyke was released from jail Monday night after posting bond on a 1.5 million U.S. dollar bail. Endit