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'My Record Speaks For Itself': CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson Addresses IG Report On Laquan McDonald Case

CHICAGO (CBS)-- Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is taking issue with a new report on the investigation into the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

Johnson said he wanted to clear up some "misconceptions" in the new report released by the Office of the Inspector General.

The report stated that when Johnson was a deputy chief in 2014, he and other top CPD officers met to discuss the dashcam video of the McDonald shooting. This happened 10 days after McDonald was fatally shot and before the video was released to the public.

While addressing the media Saturday, Jonson said he was not involved in any discipline decisions on a superintendent level. He said due to his position, he was not given all the information. He said he saw the video close to two weeks after the incident and he was "not in the initial larger after-action meeting."

He said that at the time, his role was to "assist in the facilitation of any training or equipment audits mandated by the superintendent for officers and supervisors that were under my particular command."

He called the incident a tragedy.

"To be clear, I never thought and I never said the shooting of Laquan McDonald was justified," he said.

He said he prefers to focus on what the police force needs going forward, including police reform and officer support.  He said the police department needed structural change.

"Look at my record in terms of the Laquan McDonald incident and what I did, is that forgotten now?" he said. "No, when I became superintendent and was in a position to do something about it, I did that. So, my record speaks for itself."

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