Chicago police ordered to search personal emails about fatal shooting
CHICAGO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The Chicago Police Department must search the personal emails of officers discussing the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white officer in 2014, according to an opinion by Illinois' attorney general made public on Tuesday.
The opinion found that the department violated the Illinois Freedom of Information Act when it failed to seek and search personal email accounts belonging to 12 police officers after news network CNN submitted a request about the killing of Laquan McDonald.
Officer Jason Van Dyke's shooting of McDonald 16 times in October 2014 and the release of the video more than a year later sparked days of protests in Chicago. Criticism of how the incident was handled cost the police chief his job.
Van Dyke, 38, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of McDonald, 17. It is the first time in decades a Chicago police officer has been charged with murder for a fatal shooting while on duty.
Patrol car dashboard camera videos of the shooting show McDonald walking away from officers. He was armed with a small knife.
A special prosecutor has been named to probe whether other Chicago police officers lied to justify the shooting of McDonald.
Fatal encounters between police and black men in U.S. cities have fueled protests over the past two years and stoked a national debate on race and police tactics.
The attorney general's ruling, which the department can seek to have overturned by a judge, is the latest blow for the Chicago Police Force as it faces a federal investigation and allegations of racism and brutality.
"CPD has not demonstrated that it conducted a reasonably adequate search for all responsive records because it did not seek to obtain responsive records from the personal email accounts of the named CPD officers," Attorney General Lisa Madigan wrote in the opinion last week.
Chicago police have argued that emails exchanged through personal accounts are not subject to the requirements of the freedom of information act because the department does not possess or control them. The department contended searching personal email accounts would invade the privacy of its employees.
A police representative could not be reached for comment. (Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Peter Cooney)
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