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Former police superintendent Garry McCarthy is facing a huge backlash over controversial comments he made about Laquan McDonald and Chicago’s African American population.
Now, African American leaders are sounding off.
“Everybody says he's walking away. It's not true to me. Walking away means you're going in that direction and I’m standing here. That's not the case,” McCarthy said.
The former chairman of the City Council's police committee said he was astounded when former police Supt. Garry McCarthy told FOX 32 the police dashcam video shows Laquan McDonald walking toward, not away from, the officer who's now accused of murdering McDonald.
“He needs to go get his eyes checked, probably as early as tomorrow morning, and see exactly what's wrong with those eyes. because everybody in the country has seen what we all saw. And that was cold-blooded murder,” said Alderman Anthony Beale.
The chairman of the City Council's Black Caucus says McCarthy’s wrong about the video, but may be correct that Van Dyke, indicted for official misconduct, 16 counts of aggravated battery and six counts of first degree murder, may not be convicted on the most serious charges.
“That man was murdered by Jason Van Dyke,” said Alderman Roderick Sawyer. “But again, speaking as a lawyer, yeah, I’m concerned that, yeah, he may get off.”
There were also objections to comments McCarthy made about Chicago’s African American population, which has shrunk by one-third in recent years, even as other groups are now growing.
“The middle class blacks are leaving, the ones who can, which, A, are our taxpayers and, B, we're leaving behind the trigger pullers. So, there's a real toxic soup here,” McCarthy said.