News Round Up • CPD Chief of Detectives Steps Down, New Shooting Video & More
CPD Chief of Detectives Retires In Wake of Video
The fallout around the video of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke continued this week as the Chief of Detectives Constantine "Dean" Andrews stepped down after 26 years on the force.
Andrews' late Sunday phone call to Mayor Rahm Emanuel came on the heels of the mayor's firing of Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. Andrews was not directly involved in the McDonald case, but does have connections to the exoneration of former Mayor Daley's nephew Richard Vanecko who killed a man when he punched him outside of a Rush St. nightclub in 2004. He was also involved in the re-investigation of that case in 2011.
"With everything changing and now an interim superintendent, I felt it would be best for the city and best for the department if I stepped aside and let the new leaders create their own team," said Andrews.
Video of Ronald Johnson Shooting Released
Hardly two weeks removed from the release of dash cam footage showing CPD officer Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times in the street before attempting to reload, yet another video of a local citizen being gunned down by the police was released over the weekend.
No charges will be files against police officer George Hernandez who shot 25-year-old Ronald Johnson twice while the victim was fleeing from police on October 12, 2014. The decision that Officer Hernandez was 'reasonable' in using deadly force was made by State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who has come under fire in the weeks since the release of the McDonald video for her handling of the issue.
Video shows Johnson leaving his vehicle and running from police before being shot in the back. Hernandez fired his gun five times, striking Johnson twice.
Google Opens West Loop Offices
The West Loop just keeps getting hotter. Google finally opened the doors of it's new headquarters just west of downtown last week with a ribbon cutting featuring Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner.
Proving further which voters they truly care about, the pair stopped by the renovated cold storage building to pay respects and kiss the ring of the Tech brass.
"Each floor has its own theme and employees got to choose the final graphics. The new 300,000 square-foot office at 1000 W. Fulton Market (aka 1KFulton), was built from a gutted former cold storage plant in the historic Kinzie industrial corridor."
Probably not helping rent prices anytime soon, but Google's here!
Police Rescue 3 Men From Fiery Back of the Yards Crash
Not all the boys in blue are bad and that was proved again last night as three police officers did their jobs without using their service weapons in pulling three men from a burning car in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood late last night.
According to police interviewed by ABC 7, "Police said the officers saw a speeding car heading west in the 700-block of West Garfield Boulevard around 11 p.m. Monday. The vehicle lost control, hit a tree, hit a metal pole, crashed into a fence and landed in front of a home."
All three men were recovered from the wreckage and taken to Stroger Hospital where they are expected to make a full recovery. The crash happened steps from James O'Leary's former home, son of Mrs. O'Leary who's cow has come to blame for the Great Chicago Fire.
Albany Park Students Boycott Lunch
Students at Albany Park's Theodore Roosevelt High School just couldn't take it anymore.
The high school students began a boycott of their school's lunches with one teacher estimating that around 80% of students participated in the boycott.
“The students found that if they boycotted lunch, that Aramark wouldn’t get paid, and they saw that as a means of forcing the company and Chicago Public Schools to provide higher quality food,” civics teacher Timothy Meegan told Chicago radio station WBBM-AM, according to a report filed by Mariam Sobh for the station.
“In Civics we are working on project based learning. We brainstormed a list of potential issues to work on, narrowed the list to three, and finally voted to work on improving school lunch,” the students explain on their website, “The School Lunch Project: Culinary Denial."
Lunch options at the school include hamburgers, chicken patties or pizza, according to students who would rather have options of salads, sandwiches and fresh fruits.
So far, the boycott seems to be working.
“Aramark observers are monitoring our cafeteria,” the student site reported Friday. “It’s funny how the presentation and freshness of our food has improved since we started the boycott.”
