WASHINGTON: A white former Chicago police officer was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison on Friday for fatally shooting a black teenager in 2014, an incident that triggered months of protests in the city.
Jason Van Dyke fired 16 bullets into 17-year-old Laquan McDonald during the confrontation, which occurred while he still a member of the force.
The slaying was captured on police video that showed the knife-wielding teen appearing to walk away from officers when he was shot.
“My findings are an appropriate sentence would be 81 months in the Illinois Department of Corrections, two years mandatory supervised release,” Judge Vincent Gaughan said.
In October, a jury had convicted Van Dyke of second-degree murder over the killing.
Three of Van Dyke’s fellow officers were charged with conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice for allegedly filing false reports about what happened.
They were acquitted on Thursday.
The city’s police chief and lead prosecutor both lost their jobs after the McDonald shooting, one in a series of fatal encounters between US police and African Americans, who formed the Black Lives Matter movement in response. --AFP