Chicago police officer who shot black teenager ‘feared for life’

The lawyer for a white Chicago police officer charged in the 2014 murder of a black teenager said yesterday that his client had feared for his life. He also said that dashboard camera footage released by police is unreliable, because video “distorts images”.

Daniel Herbert told CNN that Officer Jason Van Dyke arrived at the scene 18 minutes after a suspect carrying a knife was reported to have threatened businesses and vandalised police cruisers.

Prosecutors said that 30 seconds after he arrived, Van Dyke shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.