The missing footage has led to allegations of tampering with
evidence and of a police cover-up in the case, which have been
strongly denied by police and prosecutors.
Last week, the city released police car dashboard camera video that
showed Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old
Laquan McDonald 16 times on Oct. 20, 2014. On the same day the video
was released, Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder.
Protests erupted afterwards in the country's third largest city,
culminating in the firing of Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy by
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday.
Critics of the mayor and of the local prosecutor have complained
that it took too long for charges to be filed.
High-profile killings of black men at the hands of mainly white
police officers in U.S. cities have fueled protests over the past
two years and prompted a national debate about the use of excessive
force by police.
Officials had gathered video evidence on the night of the shooting
from nearby businesses on the city's southwest side, including a
Burger King restaurant.
The footage, released in response to a public records request,
showed a gap of 86 minutes, including the time when McDonald was
shot. The tape has no sound and shows policemen in the Burger King
after the shooting, with one working at a computer monitor. Cook
County prosecutors have said an investigation had ruled out
tampering. The Chicago Sun-Times cited a source close to a Federal
Bureau of Investigation probe as saying the Burger King security
video system often broke down and had frequent gaps.
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There are no other major gaps in the video from the restaurant that
day, according to footage viewed by Reuters.
The city plans to release dashboard camera video of another fatal
police shooting of a black man by a white police officer from
October 2014. It was not immediately known when the video of Ronald
Johnson's shooting would be released.
Also on Friday, about 50 protesters, including civil rights leader
Jesse Jackson, marched around City Hall demanding an independent
investigation of the case.
"We need to get some justice here," said Ron Wilson, a minister from
suburban Hazel Crest. "There's no reason for holding on to those
tapes for 13 months."
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Toni Reinhold)
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