A Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a 17-year-old last year and faces up to life in prison, authorities said Tuesday.


CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - NOVEMBER 24 - The charges against the officer were announced a day before the city planned to release a video that captured the shooting, footage that officials worry could lead to intense protests.

Officer Jason Van Dyke is believed to be the first Chicago police officer charged with first-degree murder in more than three decades, according to the Chicago Tribune.


The officer should absolutely be charged.You won’t get closure unless there’s a trial. That’s our system. Jesse Ventura wasn’t able to clear his name until he had a trial.

Until there’s a trial, everything else is irrelevant. I advocated for a trial in Ferguson, Missouri, and I’ll advocate for this trial in Chicago. We need these trials, because that’s where evidence is put on the table, and it’s argued back and forth. That’s our system of justice.

That was a huge mistake when the Grand Jury did not order a trial in Ferguson. Now you’re left with that hanging forever. No one will ever know the entire truth, because no evidence was ever submitted in a courtroom. All you have hearsay. That’s not evidence.

I’m very pleased that this case went to trial, that’s where it belonged. You have to have a system, and you have to rely on that system to work. And that system ONLY works if we take part in it! When you get called for jury duty, don’t try to get out of it. It’s your job! That’s what makes the system work, if people do what is required of them.

- Jesse Ventura

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