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| Why would Jason Van Dyke want his name … |
Because
if I were connected to the criminal defense of Jason Van Dyke, a police officer
currently on trial for murder involving the shooting death of a teenage
criminal suspect, the last thing I’d want anyone doing is bringing up the name
of Burge in any sort of pairing.
YET
THAT IS what was done on Wednesday, when FOP union officials showed up at the
Criminal Courts Building (where they knew a slew of reporter-type people would
be present to cover Van Dyke) and let it be known that Burge – who retired to
Florida with his full police pension benefits – is dead. He was 70.
Dean
Angelo, the one-time FOP president, said (amongst other things), “I don’t know that
Jon Burge got a fair shake based on the years and years and years of service
that he gave to the city.”
As
though we’re supposed to think Burge was the ultimate victim because he wound
up serving prison time for perjury committed while testifying in lawsuits filed
due to his actions as a police officer.
He
never was convicted for those acts, which consisted of countless incidents of
brutality by he and the officers under his command. One could joke that Burge
is just like Al Capone, the ‘20s era gangster whose tax evasion conviction seemed
downright petty compared to the bloodshed that occurred in Chicago during his
lifetime.
OF
COURSE, IT was the people of Chicago who ultimately paid for Burge’s behavior.
The city had to pay more than $100 million in legal settlements and reparations
to those men who wound up doing prison time because of the confessions that
Burge is said to have beaten out of them.
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| … tied to that of Jon Burge? |
I’m
sure Angelo wants to believe Burge was a decent cop who got criminalized by
people who were “human vermin” themselves. Perhaps he thinks we’re on the verge
of doing something similar to Van Dyke – whose offense was the repeated
shooting of a teenager with a knife who could have become a threat to the public.
I’ll
be the first to admit that Van Dyke may have a legitimate claim to self-defense
in his case. That's what his ongoing trial is all about. Which is why I find it odd that anyone acting in his defense would
want to bring up Burge.
Just
hearing the name will bring up bad memories from Chicago’s past and create an
association by guilt for Van Dyke. Something I’d think they’d want to avoid.
Instead of putting our collective Burge memories into the city’s past.
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