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    Rulings in Laquan McDonald cases leave police reformers questioning if progress has been made

    by Megan Crepeau, Christy Gutowski, Jason Meisner and Stacy St. Clair, Chicago Tribune Jan 19, 2019 8 minutes

    CHICAGO - By any definition, the criminal cases connected to Laquan McDonald's murder have been watershed moments for a city with a decadeslong history of police abuses.

    Yet on back-to-back days last week at Cook County's main criminal courthouse, many reform advocates were left disappointed and wondering if any real progress has been made.

    In one courtroom Friday, a judge sentenced Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke to just under seven years in prison for killing 17-year-old McDonald, less than half of what prosecutors had sought. He could be released in as soon as three years.

    A day earlier, a different judge acquitted three of Van Dyke's fellow officers of charges alleging a cover-up of McDonald's shooting. Instead, the judge issued a staunch endorsement of the officers' actions that night, calling the black teen an erratic, armed assailant who ignored commands to drop a small knife.

    To some, the rulings threaten to deepen the divisions brought to the fore by the court-ordered release of the infamous police dashboard camera video showing Van Dyke firing 16 shots at McDonald as he walked down Pulaski Road. After Van Dyke was sentenced Friday evening, protesters trailed his wife and school-aged daughters out of the courthouse jeering and chanting "16 shots" in reference to

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