Amid growing criticism, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he has asked the city's top police officer to step down.
After announcing that he was appointing a task force to look at police accountability, Rahm said that that "public trust" in the city's police force has been "shaken," so he has asked Superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign.
Of course, this comes about a week after a court order forced the city to release video showing the police shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
The video shows Officer Jason Van Dyke shoot McDonald 16 times shortly after Van Dyke stepped out of his vehicle. Right before the video's release, prosecutors announced they would charge Van Dyke with murder.
Since then protesters have taken to the streets, and many — including the editorial board of the Chicago Sun-Times — called on McCarthy to quit or for Emanuel to fire him.
Emanuel defended McCarthy's tenure saying that he had brought crime down using community police tactics. Still, he said, a police chief is only as "effective as the trust that the community" places in him.
"Now is the time for fresh eyes and new leadership," Emanuel said.
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