Video of murder of Laquan McDonald by Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke

Despite the fact that McDonald’s family did not file a lawsuit, the city knew it was murder and paid them $5 million in April and fought to conceal the video, even after several FOIA requests were filed for its release.

The existence of the dashcam video showing the murder was first made public by independent journalist Jamie Kalven, not by police or prosecutors or mayor Rahm Emanuel. Local and state prosecutors did nothing to hold Jason Van Dyke accountable.

The video was only released publicly after a judge's order in response to a lawsuit filed in support of the long-ignored FOIA requests. Without Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama's order, there would be no video of the murder today.

Van Dyke was finally charged with first-degree murder today, only after the judge ordered that the video be made public. Prosecutors and Chicago internal affairs sat on the video and other information they had about the murder for 13 months. Van Dyke continued to be paid by CPD until today.