CHICAGO (AP) – Hours after Chicago officials released audio-free dashcam video of a white officer shooting a black teen 16 times, a 35-second excerpt with sound appeared online. But experts, police and an Associated Press analysis have concluded the audio is bogus.
In it, viewers can see and supposedly hear Officer Jason Van Dyke firing nine rapid shots at Laquan McDonald, then pausing and firing again.
This video garnered nearly half a million social media views. It added fuel to simmering suspicions police were covering something up about the 2014 shooting. Van Dyke has now been charged with first-degree murder.
Ed Primeau is an expert who’s on the executive committee of the American Board of Recorded Evidence. He says the video’s clearly fake. Among other things, he cites gunshots that don’t reverberate as they should if authentic.