The process, which could extend further if the officers choose to challenge their firings in court, was a reminder of how long it often takes to reach resolutions in cases where people die in encounters involving the police. Earlier this week, in New York City, federal prosecutors said they would not seek civil rights charges against Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who placed Eric Garner in a chokehold that led to Garner’s death five years ago.
In Chicago, Laquan McDonald’s death touched off years of political upheaval and led to promises to overhaul the Police Department. Yet even with intense public interest, the legal and disciplinary processes played out slowly.
Last October, almost four years after the shooting, Jason Van Dyke was convicted of murder for firing 16 shots into Laquan. In January, three other officers were acquitted on criminal charges that they had covered up the shooting. And finally, on Thursday, the Chicago Police Board voted to fire four other officers for their actions after the shooting: Sgt. Stephen Franko and Officers Ricardo Viramontes, Janet Mondragon and Daphne Sebastian.
The Police Board found that Franko signed off on false reports about what happened and that Officers Viramontes, Mondragon and Sebastian provided accounts of the shooting that were contradicted by video.
“Each of the three officers failed in their duty — either by outright lying or by shading the truth,” the Police Board said.
The cases in Chicago and New York are among dozens of fatal encounters with the police in recent years that have led to national headlines, expressions of outrage and questions about when and how officers use force. Here is a look at what happened to the officers involved in some of those other cases.
The vast majority of officers who kill a civilian are never charged.
Protesters marched for months in 2014 when Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Wilson resigned. County grand jurors declined to indict him, and federal prosecutors decided not to file civil rights charges.
In 2014, Timothy Loehmann, a rookie patrolman in Cleveland, shot and killed Tamir Rice, a black 12-year-old, within seconds of arriving outside a recreation center where Tamir was carrying a replica gun. Loehmann, who is white, was not criminally charged, but was fired from the Cleveland police for lying about a past job on his employment application. Years later, Loehmann accepted another policing job in rural Ohio, but resigned under pressure from activists. He has appealed his firing from the Cleveland police force.
Protesters in Minneapolis occupied the area outside a police station for days in 2015 after Jamar Clark, a black man, was shot during a struggle with Officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze. Both officers, who are white, returned to work after the county prosecutor and the police chief cleared them of wrongdoing. In 2017, Ringgenberg was among the first officers on the scene after another Minneapolis officer shot and killed an unarmed woman.
Of those officers who are charged, most are not convicted.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, prosecutors swiftly charged Officer Betty Jo Shelby with manslaughter after she shot and killed Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man, in 2016. But jurors acquitted her, and Shelby, who is white, returned to work. She later resigned from the Tulsa police after being assigned a desk job, and she joined a sheriff’s department in a nearby county.
Twice, prosecutors tried to convince jurors that Ray Tensing, a white University of Cincinnati police officer, was guilty of murder in the death of Samuel DuBose, an unarmed black driver. Twice, jurors deadlocked and failed to reach a verdict. Prosecutors declined to seek a third trial. Tensing, who had been fired shortly after the shooting, was later reported to have reached a settlement with the university that included legal fees and nearly $250,000 in back pay.
Baltimore erupted in large, sometimes violent, protests in 2015 when Freddie Gray, a black man, died after suffering a spinal cord injury while in police custody. The local prosecutor charged six officers in connection with his death, but none were convicted. Federal prosecutors declined to file charges.
In the last year, three officers have been convicted of murder.
Last year, Van Dyke became the first Chicago police officer in decades to be convicted of murder for an on-duty shooting. Prosecutors emphasized a dash camera video that showed Van Dyke, who is white, firing 16 shots into Laquan, who had been holding a knife but veering away from the police. Van Dyke was sentenced in January to nearly seven years in prison. Laquan’s family and the Illinois attorney general called the sentence inadequate.
Roy D. Oliver II, a white police officer in Balch Springs, Texas, shot and killed Jordan Edwards with a high-powered rifle as Jordan, who was black and 15, and other teenagers drove away from a house party in 2017. Oliver was convicted of murder last summer and sentenced to 15 years in prison, a sentence Jordan’s family called too lenient.
Mohamed Noor, a Minneapolis police officer, said he feared for his life when Justine Ruszczyk, a white woman wearing pajamas and holding a glittery cellphone, approached his squad car on a summer night in 2017. Noor, who is black, shot and killed her. Jurors did not accept his account, and convicted him of murder this year. He was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.