Nathan Halder

2 months ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle |Nathan Halder |Katy Smyser

When 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot and killed by Chicago police in 2014, some officers there reported that McDonald had “lunged” at them with a knife, and other officers reported that they had been “victims” of McDonald’s aggression. The only way for the public to know what really happened, was to see the police officers’ dashcam video of the scene. That video was public property, recorded by a public agency with public employees who work for taxpayers. That video belonged to the public.

2 months ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle |Nathan Halder |Katy Smyser

Drive into the suburbs west on I-290, then a few miles north on Illinois Highway 53, and you’ll eventually pass a small yellow sign saying “All traffic must exit” and then another sign saying “Freeway ends” and – finally – a long left-hand curve, and – boom – no more expressway. To the north – where it seems like the expressway should have continued – is, instead, a wide swath of unoccupied land.

2 months ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle |Lisa Capitanini |Nathan Halder

ELGIN, IL – The knock on the door was not from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were U.S. Marshals, who last week breached the door of a home in Elgin – about 40 miles outside Chicago - looking for Jose Ramos, a 26-year-old wanted on several outstanding criminal charges – including attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm, according to authorities. His sisters, Bethzy and Janeth Lopez, say he hasn’t lived there in months.

2 months ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle |Katy Smyser |Lisa Capitanini |Nathan Halder

It was in late 2023 when Jeff Wold first heard from police officers that they were finding small empty cartridges in the back seats of cars of DUI suspects. Another officer told Wold, who back then was the chief of police in southwest suburban Manhattan, that he’d discovered 40 to 50 similar cartridges strewn around the home of a young overdose victim. It turns out these officers were finding empty cartridges of nitrous oxide – laughing gas – which goes by the chemical name N2O.

Jan 3, 2025 | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle |Lisa Capitanini |Nathan Halder

For nearly eight years, the city of New Orleans has possessed 700-pound, steel anti-vehicle barriers. But they weren't deployed ahead of the New Year's Day attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens of others. The CEO of the Meridian Rapid Defense Group told NBC 5 Investigates he sold 48 of the so-called Archer barriers to the city of New Orleans in 2017, following the 2016 deadly ramming attack in Nice, France, and said he wasn't sure why they weren't in use.