Amid turmoil, Escalante takes top job at Northeastern Illinois U.

The No. 2 official in the Chicago Police Department announced his retirement Tuesday to become police chief at Northeastern Illinois University as the department braces for more fallout from the Laquan McDonald scandal.

First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante was chief of detectives in 2014 when a department investigation found Officer Jason Van Dyke was justified in fatally shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times.

Then on Nov. 24, Van Dyke was charged with murder following a separate investigation by the Cook County state's attorney's office and the FBI.

Video from a dashboard camera in one of the police cars on the scene contradicted the accounts of Van Dyke and other officers, showing McDonald was walking away from Van Dyke and not approaching him as he held a knife.

On Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported police Supt. Eddie Johnson is considering recommendations by the city's inspector general to fire or discipline at least 10 officers for either covering up or bungling the investigation of the McDonald shooting.

Escalante does not come under criticism in the inspector general's report, according to a police source.

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