By Associated Press
CHICAGO — A judge has sentenced former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke to nearly seven years in prison in the 2014 shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald.
Judge Vincent Gaughan’s sentence of six years and nine months in prison Friday came a day after another judge acquitted three other officers of trying to cover up the shooting to protect Van Dyke.
Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times, including after the 17-year-old was on the ground and barely moving. A jury convicted him in October of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery — one for each shot.
The case went largely unnoticed until the city was forced to release police dashcam video 13 months after it happened. The video sparked large protests and led to the ouster of Chicago’s top police official and some department reforms.