Chicago police: It was more than murder.

What a wonderful city Chicago is. Visited only twice but loved it; loved its size, its architecture, its museums, its people.

But riding in to work today, listening to NPR, what a different image emerges.

First there was the tone deaf prosecuter, Anita Alvarez, who said the policeman who shot a 17 year old 16 times, mostly after he was unconscious on the ground, had not properly discharged his duties and used unwarranted force.  You think? Don't you think you could have shown a little more outrage at the press conference where you announced a first degree murder charge?

Don't you think you could say:  "We are proud of our police and we hope to make every policeman a friendly and valued presence in each community. We hope to make the cop on the beat someone people in the neighborhood can  trust again. So we are particularly outraged when a man entrusted by the city with a lethal weapon violates everything we hope to stand for, by committing murder in the name of the city of Chicago."?

Or words to that effect.

But, wait! There's worse.

It turns out the video which finally prompted the prosecutor to act, after more than a year, was in possession of the police department but the police refused to release it until forced by a persistent reporter and then, later some lawyers.  This is after the police investigated the shooting.  This is after the internal police investigator went to the autopsy at 8:30 the next morning and watched the medical examiner count 16 bullet wounds.  Oh, that did not raise any suspicions in the minds of the Chicago police that perhaps the officer might have used "excessive force?"

Apparently, the tip to the reporter came from a source in the police department who was so disturbed he or she could not remain silent. 

Jamie Kalvern, the reporter

Craig Futterman, the lawyer

But wait!  There's more.

It turns out the police stormed into the Burger King near the shooting and went through the store's security cameras and found images of the shooting and destroyed these videos, but were caught on another security camera as they did their dirty work, obstruction of justice.  Was there ever a clearer case of guilty conscience? And why is only one police officer being charged, if the complicity goes so far beyond him? Does the phrase "accessory after the fact" not mean anything in Chicago? 

Why has  the chief of police not been fired? Who was involved in the investigation of the shooting?  Why is the investigator not being shown the door when he somehow failed to register what every citizen hearing this story registers?  What did the other policemen present say about it when, presumably, they were interviewed as part of the investigation?  Why did four other police simply stand there when this latter day Lt. Caulley continued firing? 

Where is Serpico, when you need him?

Shot 16 times. Black male. Knife in hand. Had it coming.

In "The Wire,"  the police would shrug this off as another case of, "He was killed in the wrong zip code."  Meaning, of course, he was Black and he was poor and his life did not matter.