Extra Judicial Execution: The Hand of One is The Hand of All.

Laquan McDonald was 17 years old when he was executed on October 20, 2014. The executioner was Jason Van Dyke a Chicago police officer. At least eight other officers watched and did nothing. We now know that at least three officers are alleged to have conspired to cover up their wrong doing – the grand jury investigation is ongoing.

Remember that even if Mr. McDonald had a 3 inch knife he was moving away from the officers when he was shot. The original police report said that he lunged at them. We now know that too

was a lie. Mr. McDonald was executed by a sadistic, coward who fired 16 times (9 times in the back) into the prone body of Mr. McDonald who went down with the first shot. No one has mentioned that at least eight other officers who were witness to a felony execution carried out in front of them - did nothing. They witnessed the murder and knew who the perpetrator was. As trained officers they knew that what they witnessed was a crime. The mere fact that at least eight officers stood by and watched the execution of Mr. McDonald and none made an arrest is telling. It is more than the so-called "blue wall of silence". It is complicity during and after the crime. Let’s look at the law. The Illinois Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 provides in pertinent part that:

A police officer who has reasonable grounds to believe that a person is committing or has committed an offense may arrest a person. So the question is did the officers have reasonable grounds to believe that the person (Jason Van Dyke) was committing or had committed a crime? Let’s see they watched Van Dyke fire 16 bullets into a 17 year old who was walking away from them. Fifteen of the bullets were fired while the teenager was lying on the ground. At least eight other officers were on the scene but none of them fired their weapons - clearly they did not feel threatened. They witnessed a murder but none of them thought to arrest the murderer. Remember what these police officers were eye witnesses to was the information likely presented to the special grand jury that returned an indictment on six counts of murder against Jason Van Dyke. This is significant. The job of the grand jury is to determine whether there exists probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed. Therefore, the finding of a true bill means that what the other officers witnessed was sufficient to make an arrest. Yet no arrest was made. The grand jury found:

• Murder/Intent to Kill/Injure With Firearm,

• Murder/Strong Probability to Kill/Injure With Firearm,

• Murder/Intent to Kill/Injure Discharge Firearm,

• Murder/Strong Probability to Kill/Injure Discharge Firearm,

• Murder/Intent to Kill/Injure Discharge Firearm Proximately, and

• Murder/Strong Probability to Kill/Injure Discharge Firearm Proximately.

The importance of this fact is that it undermines the oft-stated argument that the vast majority of officers are good cops while only a few bad apples exist. Any officer who witnesses a cold blooded murder and does not make an arrest is no less guilty than the murderer. In short, all of the officers who were present are guilty. In criminal matters, particularly murder, the hand of one is the hand of all.

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Johnnie Cordero holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Doctorate in Jurisprudence. He is author of Total Black Empowerment: A Guide to Critical Thinking in the Age of Trump.