The saddest face

Though youthful and handsome, there is no sadder public face than that of police officer James Van Dyke. That sadness is palpable as he contemplates his upcoming trial for the 2014 shooting death of 17 year old Laquan McDonald. That sadness was on full display from his interview with the Chicago Tribune charging he's "a political scapegoat and subject to a bandwagon of hatred on social media." Van Dyke fears he'll be ripped from his family to serve a long jail sentence if convicted. He may be even sadder following the interview as prosecutors requested trial judge Vincent Gaughan hike his $1.5 million bail or even jail him immediately for violating its terms to not publicize his defense.

Van Dyke's sixteen shots into McDonald, immediately upon exiting his cruiser, while many other cops were simply corralling the drug addled shooting victim, is painful, indeed haunting to watch. I don't see a cop bent on committing murder. I see a 15 year police veteran who had never before fired his service weapon, conduct himself like one who never had one minute of responsible police training; possibly having snapped from the daily trauma of trying to stay alive while protecting the public on Chicago's troubled streets. Compare Van Dyke to the University of Chicago police officer who backpedaled for 30 seconds as a scarily garbed and drug addled student charged him with a lead pipe, one blow of which could have been fatal. That officer fired one non fatal bullet at the last possible moment to end the threat to himself and the public. Regardless of the eventual verdict, neither the public, nor even Van Dyke, will likely never know what possessed him to act as he did.

But we do know that had the mayor, the states attorney and the police chief done the job they're highly paid for, this case would have been brought forward within weeks and resolved a year or two ago. That unconscionable delay has extended the pain and sadness for the McDonald family, the Van Dyke family and the public.