Van Dyke Trial: Two Officers Take Witness Stand On Day 1

CHICAGO (CBS)—The second day of the Jason Van Dyke trial starts Tuesday morning, and follows a compelling first day of testimony Monday.

Two officers out of ten who were on the scene of the October 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald took the witness stand Monday on the trial's first day.

The defense Monday told jurors McDonald was responsible for his own death.

Chicago police officers trailed the 17-year-old for more than half a mile before Van Dyke shot him. On the witness stand Monday, Officer Joseph McElligott said the police were trying to buy time to get a taser.

McDonald, according to police, stabbed the tire of a police cruiser and hit the squad car with the knife.

McElligott told the court those actions had raised the threat level McDonald posed to police.

Another officer who was there that night, Dora Fontaine, told the court McDonald did not make an attempt to stab anyone and did not make any aggressive movements toward police.

She testified that Van Dyke continued to fire his gun at McDonald as he lay in the street.

Prosecutor Joseph McMahon alleged race was a motivating factor in the shooting, as Van Dyke is white and McDonald was black.

Prosecutors contend Van Dyke could not, in those six seconds before he fired, have had the information he need to fire his weapon 16 times; but Van Dyke's attorney said the number of shots are not important if the decision to shoot was lawful.

The prosecution told the jurors Van Dyke shot the teenager despite being surrounded by nine armed officers and five squad cars. His defense attorney said evidence will later show that significant physiological changes occur when an officer is engaged in a deadly force situation.

Court resumes in the Leighton Criminal Court Building Tuesday at 10 a.m.

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• Mike Puccinelli