Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday that he would not heed critics' calls to step down over the city's handling of a 2014 police shooting, saying he would leave that decision to voters, who in April sent him to office for a second term.
"We have a process. It's called the election," Emanuel told reporters from Politico in an interview before an audience in Chicago. "The voters spoke. I"ll be held responsible for my actions and the decisions I made."
Emanuel also said the city was not trying to cover up a dashcam video of Officer Officer Jason Van Dyke's fatal October 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. A judge ordered it released last week, triggering protests that led to Emanuel's firing of police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on Tuesday.
The mayor said his administration resisted releasing the video for more than a year because city rules prevent it from publicizing evidence during an ongoing criminal investigation. But he acknowledged that those rules need to be tweaked to allow for the public's right to know in the digital age.
Emanuel promised to discipline anyone found to have acted inappropriately in the shooting and its aftermath. So far, the only one is Van Dyke, who has been charged with first-degree murder.
"If anybody else is responsible for what happened, we’re going to hold them accountable."
