Recently released emails show that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot first learned in November 2019 about a “very bad unfair operation” at the home of a black woman who said she was not allowed to wear clothes before the police to handcuff.
Chicago city leaders released more than 150 emails, as well as other documents, photos and images from the police corps camera on Wednesday in connection with the failed operation of February 2019 at Anjanette Young’s home.
More than 150 pages of e-mails between city aides contradict Lightfoot’s initial claim that she did not know about the operation until earlier this month, when Chicago’s WBBM-TV first broadcast police images. The incident and the city’s response sparked criticism across the country, the removal of the city’s top lawyer and led to an independent investigation.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a scientific initiative event at the University of Chicago in Chicago. She revealed a 10-day preparation plan for election day on Friday. (REUTERS / Kamil Krzaczynski)
((REUTERS / Kamil Krzaczynski))
Lightfoot, who won the job in April 2019, later said that she was informed by the team in November 2019 about e-mails, but did not remember them.
“Mayor, please see below for a very bad unfair operation that will come out tomorrow,” says a November 11, 2019 email from Susan Lee, a former vice mayor of public security. The e-mail included a summary of the incident in which Young was “allegedly left standing for 40 minutes in handcuffs and naked while male police officers” searched the apartment.
Lightfoot replied about 30 minutes later: “I have a lot of questions about this one. Can we make a quick call about it?”
Lightfoot said in a statement on Thursday that “he will not rest until we can be sure that what happened to Young will never happen again”.
“While it is clear that I focused my response to that information on the policy change that we unquestionably needed, I should have paused to ask more questions about Ms. Young’s well-being and the video itself,” she said in a statement. emailed to Fox News. “I am sorry I did not do that at the time and I am committed to doing everything I can now to correct the mistakes that Ms. Young experienced.”
The attack became a major problem for Lightfoot’s credibility. Police accountability and reform were among its main campaign platforms. A former federal prosecutor, Lightfoot has never held public office, something that attracted many voters after the inauguration of ex-mayor Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff and congressman of the White House.
Young, a social worker, was seen in a video released earlier this month, naked, being handcuffed by police after police broke into the wrong house in February 2019. First reported by WBBM-TV in Chicago, the video shows Young disturbed and telling the police several times that they had the wrong address.
Also on Wednesday, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) released nearly two dozen clips of footage from body cameras, 15 documents, two videos with dash cameras and several photos from the night of the raid on Young’s home or related to she. Police previously released images from one of the cameras on the policeman’s body.
VICTIM OF CHICAGO POLICE RAID EMBARCADO CANCEL THE MEETING WITH LIGHTFOOT AFTER THE PARTIES DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS
“None of the recordings include images of Ms. Young or the interior of Ms. Young’s residence, but the public should still be able to review the images,” said CPD superintendent David Brown in an e-mailed statement.
“While we work to review and strengthen our search warrant policies, transparency and community involvement are critical. It is important to emphasize, however, that even the most perfect search warrant policy without human decency is flawed, ”continued Brown’s statement. “We must ensure that decency, dignity, responsibility and transparency are central to our culture, as well as our policies and training, as we seek to turn the page on decades of accumulated mistrust.”
CHICAGO MAYOR ‘BLINDSIDED’ BY EMBARKED POLICE ATTACK REPORT, WOMAN NUDE HANDCUFFS
Brown said the department is fully cooperating with the investigation and working to “ensure full transparency”.
Lightfoot met with Young Thursday. They said in a joint statement released later that they had a frank and productive meeting. He said they discussed a series of systemic changes to deal with the mistakes made not only for Young, but also for other victims of police actions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION