Laquan’s great uncle calls him ‘a 17-year-old gentle giant’

A little over a year ago, Pastor Marvin Hunter prayed over the body of his grand-nephew at the altar of Grace Memorial Missionary Baptist Church. The tiny Lawndale congregation included many members of Hunter’s extended family, who had helped raise the man-sized teenager in the casket.

Few outside the cinder-block walls knew the teenager’s name, Laquan McDonald, or doubted police statements that he had lunged at police with a knife when he was shot dead by Ofc. Jason Van Dyke.

Some 13 months later, the name Laquan McDonald has been printed on countless placards and chanted by protesters outraged by video showing the 17-year-old being shot more than a dozen times.

Friday, Hunter’s church was filled with reporters, as the pastor made the first public statements by a member of McDonald’s family since the video was released. Flanked by relatives and supporters, Hunter thanked demonstrators who have made McDonald’s name a rallying cry for reform.

RELATED: Mary Mitchell: Uncle gave Rahm a pass on teen’s death

“They were marching because each and every one of them could feel the pain of the Hunter family from a personal level,” Hunter said. “Laquan McDonald represents thousands of Laquan McDonalds, the same black skin, same poverty, same social and economic injustices that are put upon them.”

Hunter called for State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign and for sweeping federal intervention to aid economic development in Lawndale. Asked if Emanuel also should step down, the pastor was less direct.

“I hold Anita Alvarez accountable,” Hunter said. “Because once we cross that bridge, then we can get to the next one. You can’t fight five battles on five fronts.”

Family members never believed McDonald would have confronted police, said Hunter, who said his grand-nephew as a big “teddy bear.”

“If you were in something with Laquan, he was not the one you’d want to carry with you to the fight,“ Hunter said.

McDonald’s fatal encounter with police began after a report he was breaking into vehicles. McDonald brandished a knife when confronted by a bystander, then fled. He kept running when police arrived, and punctured the tire on a police car when officers tried to block him in. Officers claimed McDonald had a “glazed” expression, and an autopsy showed the teen had traces of PCP in his blood.

In the now-famous video recorded by a camera mounted on the dashboard of a police vehicle — a video lawyers for McDonald’s mother and sister had obtained under subpoena — McDonald appears to be walking away from the officers at the intersection of 41st Street and Pulaski when Ofc. Jason Van Dyke opened fire.

McDonald’s mother, Tina Hunter, did not join her relatives at Grace Memorial on Friday. Marvin Hunter said she still is reeling from press coverage that nearly always features replays of the video showing McDonald collapsing to the pavement on South Pulaski Road, then twitching as Van Dyke continues to fire at the fallen teen.

“How would you feel if every day, 24 hours a day you saw your son die?” Hunter said. “He walking, and then he die. He walking, and then he die.”

Hunter also complained that Tina Hunter has been mocked for receiving a $5 million settlement payment from the city in her son’s death, a payout that some considered “hush money” to prevent her lawyers from releasing the shocking video ahead of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s run-off election against Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.

Tina Hunter lost custody of her son when he was 3 years old, after the Illinois Department of Child & Family Services determined he was being neglected, and the boy was made a ward of the state at age 8 after the agency determined he was being abused by Hunter’s boyfriend.

McDonald was raised by his great-grandmother, Goldie Hunter, who died a few weeks before he was killed.

“People are talking about money, money and money,” Hunter said. “How much is worth the life of a 17-year-old gentle giant? How much is that worth?”

Tina Hunter’s lawyer, Jeff Neslund, said she was a daily presence in her son’s life even after she lost custody, and that she was set to regain custody of both the 17-year-old and his 15-year-old sister when McDonald was killed.

Tina Hunter received 45 percent of the settlement, and the remaining 55 percent went into a trust for McDonald’s younger sister, Neslund said. Hunter plans to move to the suburbs with her daughter soon, the lawyer said.

When he negotiated with the city, Neslund said he made no mention made of the looming election, and noted the agreement always allowed the family to release a copy of the video if they gave the city seven days’ notice.

Neslund said the family was concerned revealing the video would compromise a criminal investigation of Van Dyke, and that the family met with state and federal prosecutors to discuss the case.

To date, Tina Hunter has never watched the dashcam video in its entirety.

“She has watched up to the point where the police cars pull up to (McDonald), but that’s it,” Neslund said. “She can’t watch past that.”