Jason Van Dyke, a white Chicago ex-cop convicted in the fatal shooting of Black teen Laquan McDonald, has been released from prison early.
Van Dyke was released Thursday morning after spending roughly three years and four months behind bars, according to comments given to the Associated Press by a spokesperson for Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.
In January 2019, Van Dyke was sentenced to nearly seven years after the previous yearâs conviction on second-degree murder and aggravated battery. At the time, attorneys âon both sidesâ were said to have agreed that Van Dykeâs behavior in prison could result in an early release. By January of this year, Van Dykeâs early release date of Feb. 3 had been confirmed.
Laquan McDonald, 17, was shot and killed by Jason Van Dyke in October 2014, with dashcam video showing the officer shot the teen 16 times. Video of the fatal shooting, released in 2015, drew a response from then-POTUS Barack Obama, who said he was âdeeply disturbedâ by the footage.
Ahead of Thursdayâs early release, attention had again turned to the pursuit of new charges against Van Dyke. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, for example, NAACP President Derrick Johnson called for federal civil rights charges to be brought against the former police officer.
âWe have seen unfair and inequitable favor given to law enforcement officers who unjustly take the lives of members of the Black community and have fought fervently in opposition to such favor,â Johnson said in the letter, per a regional WGNTV report.
McDonaldâs family has also made public pleas for new charges in the killing of their son, with Will Callowayâa community organizer and activist in Chicagoânoting in a local NBC report that calls for such charges have been ongoing âfor the last three years.â