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CHICAGO (CBS) — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she hopes to meet soon with Anjanette Young, the social worker who was handcuffed while naked when Chicago police officers wrongly raided her home last year, although the details of a private meeting and then a public forum on the case have yet to be worked out.
“I am anxious to meet directly with Ms. Young, and I’m hoping that the details can be worked out so that will happen,” Lightfoot said Monday afternoon.
On Sunday, Young’s attorney, Keenan Saulter, sent a letter to Lightfoot, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, and seven aldermen, proposing a private meeting with the mayor at Young’s church, Progressive Baptist in Armour Square, on Wednesday morning, followed by a public forum with the mayor, seven aldermen, Brown. Saulter has since invited all 50 aldermen to attend the public forum, but Lightfoot said the proposed public forum raises some public health concerns given the pandemic.
“We have very specific guidance that’s been out now for several months about the size of gatherings. Fifty people-plus in a setting would I think violate the public health guidance that we’ve given out,” she said.
Saulter’s letter proposed a strict mask mandate for the public forum, except for when someone is speaking at the church podium, as well as requiring people to stay at least 10 feet apart from each other.
Aside from the COVID-19 concerns, Lightfoot said holding a public forum with all 50 members of the City Council raises some legal issues, such as whether such a gathering would violate the Open Meetings Act, and whether it could present a possible conflict of interests for aldermen.
“We presume that this will be a topic that they may have to weigh in on later,” the mayor said.
According to the state’s Open Meetings Act, any gathering of at least 14 aldermen to discuss city business would be considered an official meeting, and would require the city to provide advance notice, an agenda, and an opportunity for public comment.
Although Lightfoot did not mention it specifically as a concern, Young also has a pending lawsuit against the city, which could potentially result in a settlement aldermen would have to approve.
“There’s a lot of considerations that members of the City Council are going to have to consider, but I’m not going to do anything that’s inconsistent with the public health guidance that we’ve provided,” Lightfoot said.
The mayor said she hopes to address the legal and public health concerns quickly to pave the way for a meeting with Young soon.
“The details are being worked out. So once I have some specific confirmation, we’ll certainly let folks know,” she said.
It’s unclear how many aldermen plan to attend the public forum if it goes forward. Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), one of the mayor’s most outspoken critics on the City Council, said he and several of his colleagues plan to attend.
“I think it’s also important that we hear directly from her, that the mayor hear directly from her so that we don’t make these mistakes again, whether it’s with the police or whether it’s with how future mayors handle situations like this,” Lopez said. “We can’t continue to go back to the same coverup playbook simply because it’s damaging to the city of Chicago.”
Young was a victim of a botched raid conducted by Chicago police, which was recorded in February of 2019. Lightfoot had criticized the city’s Law Department for seeking to block CBS 2 from airing video footage of the wrong raid of Young’s home. A federal judge denied that request, and Lightfoot has since said that it was a mistake, though she has denied knowing about the request beforehand.
Activists held a march for Young Sunday morning outside Chicago Police Headquarters calling for change. Those in attendance included Rev. Jesse Jackson, Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, and Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin.
In addition to investigations by the city, there have been calls for congressional hearings.
The city’s Law Department dropped a motion seeking sanctions against the attorney for Young, after CBS 2 obtained video of a police raid in which Young was handcuffed naked as police wrongly searched her home. Lightfoot called the effort by the Law Department to seek sanctions against Young’s attorney “a colossal mistake.” The mayor has said, had she been advised of the move beforehand, she never would have allowed the Law Department to seek sanctions.
Lightfoot has asked former federal judge Ann Claire Williams to launch an outside investigation of the wrong raid of Anjanette Young’s home and the city’s handling of the fallout. In a letter to aldermen, Lightfoot said the city must “ensure what Ms. Young experienced never happens again.” The mayor said Williams and her law firm, Jones Day, have agreed to handle the investigation for no cost to the city.
At a joint City Council hearing last week, Brown announced several CPD policy changes to improve upon the search warrant process that the CBS 2 Investigators have poked holes in for years.
As CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar reported, a deputy chief will now have to sign off on a search warrant and it will be mandatory for a lieutenant to be on scene during raids. It was a sergeant at Young’s home that night in February 2019.
The superintendent acknowledged even with some of the search warrant procedures changed last year, there was no accountability for getting it wrong.
In August, months before the Young raid came to light, a group of attorneys instrumental in the Chicago Police consent decree sent a scathing 14-page letter to the city demanding an overhaul of the departments search warrant policy – calling it unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, all of the officers involved in the raid were placed on desk duty, pending the conclusion of a Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigation into the incident. Lightfoot has criticized COPA for taking so long with the probe, and has called on the agency to wrap up its investigation soon.
Three members of the Law Department also are out of their jobs. Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner resigned Sunday at Lightfoot’s request. Deputy Corporation Counsel Caryn Jacobs and Law Department Director of Public Affairs Kathleen Fieweger also “are no longer employed with the City” the mayor’s office confirmed Monday evening.
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