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 Community outreach, communications and legal strategy were being
planned to try to prevent violent protests when the video is
released, according to lawyers, activists and officials.
Freelance journalist Brandon Smith sued the police after they denied
his request for the video under the Illinois Freedom of Information
Act, and a judge decided in Smith's favor on Thursday, giving the
city until Nov. 25 to release it.
Officials declined on Friday to say exactly when they would make the
video public.
Laquan McDonald, 17, was hit 16 times during the Oct. 20 shooting;
some shots were in his back. Police have said he had threatened them
with a knife and slashed at the tires and windshield of a patrol
car. The video from a patrol car dashboard camera shows him moving
away from police at the time he was shot, according to a lawyer for
McDonald's mother, who has seen the video.
 Although police shootings are a frequent occurrence in Chicago, the
city has not seen protests and civil unrest on the scale that other
U.S. cities have experienced in the past year and a half over fatal
police shootings of black men.
Police said they were planning for possible protests and would
strive to keep them peaceful.
"As you have seen over the past few years, the Chicago Police
Department works tirelessly to protect people's first amendment
rights and residents of Chicago have exercised those rights in a
peaceful way," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a
statement.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Thursday that it appeared the police
officer in the case had violated public trust and pushed prosecutors
to conclude their investigation.
If there is an indictment against the officer, it is not clear if it
would come from the State's Attorney or federal prosecutors since a
federal grand jury is also looking at the case.
The officer, Jason Van Dyke, is white and has been assigned to desk
duty during the investigation.
From 2008 to 2014 Chicago had an average of 50 fatal and non-fatal
police shootings a year, more than bigger cities like New York and
Los Angeles. Almost all of the Chicago shootings were found to be
justified.
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Since the late 1990s two police officers were indicted in fatal
shootings, but both of those cases involved off-duty incidents.
Jeffrey Neslund, a lawyer for McDonald's mother Tina Hunter, said he
expected the city would announce an indictment before releasing the
video.
"There's going to be anger and outrage and justifiably so," Neslund
said. "I think the indictment should come out to explain to the
public that the authorities have done the right thing and the
officer is charged."
McDonald's family received a $5 million civil settlement from the
City of Chicago, even though they had not filed a lawsuit.
Community activist William Calloway, who had pushed for release of
the video, said his organization Christianaire is contacting church
leaders and asking them to prepare their congregations.
"Regardless of what this tape reveals, we want the community to
exercise first amendment rights and demand justice, but to do it
peacefully and effectively," Calloway said.
(Reporting by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Suzannah Gonzales, Toni
Reinhold)
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