Chicago settles lawsuit by witness to Laquan McDonald shooting who said cops pressured her to change her story
CHICAGO - Alma Benitez never minced words about her alleged mistreatment by Chicago police after witnessing the infamous 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Benitez, who was in the drive-thru of a nearby Burger King at the moment that Officer Jason Van Dyke opened fire, said she was harassed and belittled by detectives who accused her of lying about what she saw.
"It felt like I was in a lion's cage," Benitez said in an interview with the city inspector general's office. " ... I was real shocked that day. I'm like, these are the people I'm supposed to trust when making a police report?"
Benitez claimed that detectives questioned her at a nearby station for hours that night, pressuring her to change her
