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Ex-Chicago cop who killed Laquan McDonald will be released from prison early

Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is set to be released a little more than 39 months after being sent to prison for the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald.
Antonio Perez
/
Chicago Tribune via Associated Press
Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is set to be released a little more than 39 months after being sent to prison for the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald.

After serving a little more than 39 months of an 81-month sentence for the shooting death of a Black teen in 2014, former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke will be released from prison next month.

The Chicago Sun Times reports that Van Dyke's release is set for Feb. 3,

Van Dyke was sentenced in 2018 after being found guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in the October 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

Van Dyke was eligible to take time off his prison term with credit for good behavior because he was convicted of second-degree murder, the Sun Times reported.

McDonald's shooting was captured on video, which was released about a year after the killing.

The dashcam video showed McDonald walking away from Van Dyke just before the officer, who is white, shot 16 times at McDonald.

The shooting and the eventual release of the video led to protests in the streets of Chicago and a reckoning for the city's police department. The Justice Department issued a report in 2017 that called for a comprehensive reform of a department it accused of excessive force and civil rights violations.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jaclyn Diaz is a reporter on Newshub.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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