In October of 2014, a white police officer fatally shot a black teenager on the streets of Chicago. The shooting of Laquan McDonald was captured on video, and sparked outrage across the city. Chicago's top cop was fired, the local state’s attorney was voted out, and the feds were sent in to investigate the culture at the police department. Now, the police officer at the center of the shooting, Jason Van Dyke, will stand trial for murder. WBEZ and the Chicago Tribune look at how Van Dyke and McDonald intersected that night nearly four years ago, the alleged cover-up of the shooting, and examine the long history of friction between African-Americans and the Chicago Police Department. And we’ll follow the trial — bringing you insight, context, and analysis.
Jason Van Dyke is being released from prison after serving just 40 months of his 81-month sentence for the killing of Laquan McDonald. What happens ne...
Judge Vincent Gaughan sentences Jason Van Dyke to 81 months in prison. It means he’ll likely serve about 3 years. The officer celebrates with his atto...
Judge Domenica Stephenson finds 3 Chicago police officers did not lie in their reports to cover-up for Jason Van Dyke the night he killed Laquan McDon...
Defense attorneys present just one witness and some documents. That comes after 7 prosecution witnesses over 4 days. The sides make their closing argu...
Attorneys give their opening statements in the conspiracy trial of officers who were on the scene when Jason Van Dyke killed Laquan McDonald and a det...
A month and a half after Jason Van Dyke was convicted of murder, three other Chicago police officers face charges of conspiring to cover-up for him. P...
On the Sunday after the verdict, we go to two Chicago churches in very different neighborhoods and hear their very different takes on Van Dyke, the sh...
The jurors talk to reporters about why they convicted Van Dyke. Activists express thanks for the guilty verdict and Van Dyke’s attorney Dan Herbert sa...