August 30, 2016
DISCIPLINARY CHARGES RELATING TO THE LAQUAN McDONALD SHOOTING
FILED WITH THE POLICE BOARD
Today, the Superintendent filed with the Police Board charges against five members
of the Police Department alleging multiple rule violations stemming from the policeinvolved fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald. The Superintendent has recommended
that each of the five officers be discharged from the Chicago Police Department.
The accused officers are: Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, Sergeant Stephen Franko,
Police Officer Janet Mondragon, Police Officer Daphne Sebastian, and Police Officer
Ricardo Viramontes.
The role of the Police Board is to serve as an impartial body that makes decisions
based on the evidence presented at a disciplinary hearing. The Board takes final
action on all cases in public at its monthly meetings, where each Board member’s
vote is announced and recorded, and the Board posts on its website its written
decisions, which include detailed explanations of the reasons for the Board’s
findings.
It is the Board’s expectation that these cases will proceed like all Police Board
cases: there will be an initial status hearing, discovery, a pre-hearing conference,
and then the evidentiary hearing. The initial status hearing of these cases is
scheduled for Monday, September 19, at 10:00 a.m. in the hearing room at the
Board’s office.
The charges filed by the Superintendent and information about the Board’s process
for handling disciplinary cases is available at ChicagoPoliceBoard.org.
The Police Board does not comment on the substance of specific disciplinary cases
that have been filed with the Board.
The public is reminded that the filing of charges is not evidence of guilt. The
accused officers are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair hearing at which
the Superintendent has the burden of proving guilt by a preponderance of the
evidence.
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