Police Investigate San Bernardino Attack; What Chicago Police Said Happened in Laquan McDonald Shooting
WHITFIELD: New developments in the deadly shooting of like Laquan McDonald, the teen shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer. CNN has obtained newly released police reports from the incident. They contain officers' accounts of the shooting that happened in 2014 and they dramatically different than what the dash-cam video shows We want to remind our viewers the video and images of McDonald's shooting our graphic, but it is important to see how they compare to the police report. To go through these differences, I'm joined now by CNN's Rosa Flores. Rosa, what are the discrepancies?</s>ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, the headline here is that not only does Jason Van Dyke's account of what happened not match what the video shows, but the accounts of other officers on the scene do not match, and even the sergeant who reviewed the video, his account does not match what we see on that video. Now here is a summary that is included in that report. It gives us a preview of what we can see when it comes to those discrepancies. I'm going to quote here. It says, "Laquan McDonald was shot and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke while McDonald was committing an aggravated assault with a knife against Officer Van Dyke and his partner, Chicago Police Officer Joseph Walsh." That is the overall summary. Let's dig into the details. Now, of course, like Fred mentioned, this video is graphics. We want to warn our viewers. But if you look at this video, you can see that Laquan McDonald is walking in the middle of that street and you see responding police officers, including Jason Van Dyke. Now we know as we look at this video, second by second, six seconds after Jason Van Dyke arrived on scene, he starts firing his weapon. Now let us dive into account on these police reports. He said, quote, "He was swinging," referring to McDonald, "the knife in an aggressive, exaggerated manner." He goes on to say, "McDonald raised the knife across his chest and over his shoulder pointing the knife at Van Dyke and attempting to kill Van Dyke. Now here is Van Dyke's reaction to, according to what this report says, is happening. He said, "In defense of life, Van Dyke backpedaled and fired his handgun at McDonald to stop the attack and then McDonald fell to the ground but continued to move and continued to grasp the knife, refusing to let go of it." Now we know that even after look Laquan McDonald was on the ground, Jason Van Dyke continued to fire his weapon. Now here is what he said about that. It says, "It appeared to me McDonald appeared to be attempting to get up, all while continuing to point the knife at Van Dyke." Now that the Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. Now like I mentioned earlier, one of the things that really stand out here is that not only does Jason Van Dyke's account not match that video, here is what one of the police officers on scene also said. The officer said repeatedly, and I am quoting here, "McDonald blocked the knife." Now we do not have audio in this tape. But here is what he said next. And here's the crux of everything. "McDonald ignored the verbal direction and instead raised his right arm towards Officer Van Dyke, attempted to attack Van Dyke." Then the sergeant who reviewed the video and looked at the accounts that we just went over also mentions in the report that the accounts of the witnesses were consistent with the video, which, of course, now we know, as were looking at it, does not match. Fred, I want to let you leave you with one last thing that stood out to me as I am going through these reports. And this alert, because Jason Van Dyke makes a note in his account of what happened as to why he fired. He refers to an alert from back in 2012 that said that there is a knife/revolver. A knife out there, according to records, that can also be a revolver and be shot like a weapon -- Fred? All right, Rosa Flores, keep us posted on that. We'll talk more about this with our legal guys. Rose, thank you. I'm joined right now, Avery Freeman, a civil rights attorney and law professor; and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor. All right. So, Avery, you first. What is your reaction to, A, what we just saw, the discrepancies that Rosa spelled out, and then that last bit, the knife/revolver that Van Dyke claims they received warnings about, that that potentially is what people could be carrying around?</s>AVERY FREEMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY & LAW PROFESSOR: I think it is a little legal -- legal knowledge derby. The problem is there really is no consistency. The idea when you look at the video and you see McDonald's knife, that in some fashion it could be revolver strikes me is a little silly at best. In reality, it looks nothing like a revolver. And I understand what the response is. What has happened here is the officers have pieced some truisms together to make it as if there is a sequence, but in fact the video really does tell the story. The difficulty is that I do not know how it is can be reconciled. Bottom line, and we talked about this Fredricka, it is time to get the Justice Department in to take a look at the Chicago Police Department, the way they operate.</s>WHITFIELD: So, Richard, the superintendent has already been let go, but where you see this investigation going? It is a matter of there is no way Chicago police can investigate itself or even that jurisdiction investigate itself, but it needs to go, in your view, straight to the Justice Department?</s>RICHARD HERMAN, NEW YORK CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & LAW PROFESSOR: A couple of graphic points, Fred. First of all, the feds have been there for six months. That is number one. Number two, the video, it took one year to release this video and get an indictment on a case that could have been indicted within 30 days. That is because the mayor had a tough primary runoff during that year and an election during that year. The firing of the police chief was absurd. The mayor has to go. The buck stops with him. If you think he paid $5 million in a quick settlement but did not see this video, oh, my God, I've got a bridge to sell you here. These police officers and this account, this version, coming by the shooter, Van Dyke, will ensure a jury conviction. The more this insanity comes into play here, Fred, a jury is going to look at him, hear his explanation, look at this video, and convict him. They need to plea bargain this case immediately. He's going to get convicted by a jury.</s>WHITFIELD: Avery?</s>FREEMAN: Yeah. You have a criminal case against Van Dyke, you need the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department taking a look at the way Chicago police do business, including, by the way, the missing audio of this video, which I think would tell us a lot. For some reason, nobody's producing it at this point.</s>WHITFIELD: OK, all right. Richard Avery, thank you so much. Gentlemen, appreciate it. A very, very perplexing case all the way around. I don't think we can -- we can attend to all of the discrepancies or the confusions or answer all the questions that we've got. Thank you so much. Meantime, officials say the female shooter in the San Bernardino attack posted her allegiance to the leader of ISIS on Facebook. What we're learning about her and her connections to the terror group, next.