CPD Promotes Two Officials With Ties To Laquan McDonald Case
(CBS) – Top-to-bottom changes at the Chicago Police Department are a direct response to the police-involved killing of Laquan McDonald last year.
Yet at least two CPD veterans who were promoted over the weekend were directly involved in the now-disputed official investigation that initially cleared police officer Jason Van Dyke.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports.
Dave McNaughton was named the new Deputy Chief of the Bureau of Support Services.
McNaughton is listed in the police report as being at the scene during the recovery of Van Dyke's weapon and empty magazine.
"The reports that you have clearly show that Deputy Chief McNaughton was either on the scene at some point and perhaps at some point on the scene at Area Control and involved in this," says Ron Safer, a former federal prosecutor.
McNaughton also signed a Tactical Response Report where he checked a box that states, "I have concluded that the member's actions were in compliance with department procedures and directives."
McNaughton signed the report on Oct. 21, 2014 -- the day after the shooting.
Dash-cam video of Van Dyke's shooting of McDonald, a 17-year-old African American, does not correspond with officers' statements that the teen was acting aggressively before he was shot 16 times.
Says Safer: "We have to hope that (McNaughton) had not seen the video by the time that he signed off on Van Dyke's report."
Safer collaborated on a report that looked into the CPD disciplinary system. He says it would surprise him if McNaughton had not seen the dash-cam video, "as the deputy chief who is directly involved in this."
Another department veteran, Eugene Roy, was named as the Chicago Police Department's Chief of Detectives. At time of the McDonald shooting, as the Commander of Area Central's Bureau of Detectives, Roy's department was in charge of the investigation.
"You have to get the right people in there. Are these the right people? We don't know. Time will tell," Safer says.
In response to this report, the Chicago Police Department said neither McNaughton nor Roy are under any internal discipline, so they were eligible for promotion.
If any officers are implicated in the McDonald case, they will be disciplined, the department said.
Police officials say what McNaughton did in signing off on the McDonald shooting inquiry cannot happen now because the system's been changed.
Commanders in the field can no longer determine if a police shooting is justified. That is for prosecutors and the Independent Police Review Authority.
