Behind the failed Chicago police raid on the home of an innocent social worker

Lightfoot made his statements days after the city’s law department tried to prevent a local TV station from posting videos of the raid, while seeking sanctions against Young and his lawyer. The city accused the two of violating a court confidentiality order banning them from posting the videos. City attorneys stepped back Friday and filed a motion to withdraw the sanction request.

A review of the order, which was made public as part of a court case by Young’s lawyer, shows that police requested the order based on misinformation from an informant. The order was passed by the Cook County State Attorney’s Office and a county judge.

City officials have declined to answer basic questions about the order and how it was notified.

The purpose of the order was on electronic surveillance at the time and in compliance, a law enforcement officer familiar with the raid told CNN. It was not immediately clear whether police consulted with local and state officials about the whereabouts of the target. The criminal was never found in the raid.

Young’s lawyer, Keenan Saulter, has not returned CNN calls seeking comment. In an interview with WBBM, Young compared the contact to sexual assault, as officers found her naked and wearing body cameras at the time. “In any other context, this is sexual assault,” Young told WBBM.

The videos show Young being baffled at Calvary as he tries to tell officers they have the wrong house. The images show that Young was partially covered in about 30 seconds from the officers ’entrance, then more completely covered with a blanket within a minute of the order notification and then taken to the bathroom to change about 12 minutes later.

“I stand there, terrified, humiliated, I don’t even understand why, at that moment, this is happening to me,” Young told WBBM.

Several Chicago Police Department sources told CNN that it is not uncommon to find someone naked in their home when they carry out an order at midnight, and this as the department prioritizes gun arrests and the movement of firearms. fire, officers receiving approvals usually serve quickly because weapons can be easily moved from specific locations.

It is also common for people to tell officers that they do not have a correct home because the person may not know that a loved one living there is involved in a crime, police sources said.

Neither Lightfoot nor Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown commented on the information that led to the order or what rules, if any, violated police while the order was being followed. A police department spokesman would not say what officers who served the order should have done differently.

“Don’t train this at the academy. We hire people who we think know good from evil, and if they don’t know good and evil, they don’t need to be police officers,” Brown told the same news. conference.

Lightfoot said the video left her “upset, horrified as a human being and as a black woman.”

“I contacted Ms. Young through her lawyer to ask for the opportunity to speak with her directly,” Lightfoot said. “It seems to me that we are talking to each other on podiums and press conferences, and I would like to have this conversation with her in person.”

Bad information from an informant

The ordeal began in February 2019, when Chicago police requested a search warrant based on information from an informant of “John Doe” who identified Young’s home as the residence of someone who was he considered a criminal with a firearm.

The order, which Young’s lawyer included in a lawsuit, included an address, apartment number and the color of the door that turned out to be Young’s.

According to the search warrant, the case informant said he had seen the target of the warrant with a gun and ammunition inside the apartment for the past 48 hours.

The agent who prepared the order found a picture of the target and showed it to the informant who identified the target. The day before going to a judge, the officer drove the informant to the apartment complex and the informant pointed to Young’s house.

“J Doe’s criminal record, including possible pending investigations, if any, has been presented and made available to the undersigned judge. J. Doe swore the contents of this complaint and was put on trial. disposition of the undersigned judge to be questioned, “he stated.

Hours after the order was signed, the camera video shows agents knocking on Young’s door and finding her naked and bewildered in her living room.

The images from the body camera from the moment the door was knocked to the moment an officer handled Young shows that about 15 seconds had passed, and it took a few seconds for the handcuffs to close. He then falls to the ground to pick up a piece of clothing to place on his shoulders. The item leaves her exposed from the front while other agents continue to enter the house.

An officer who followed him said “to the left, go, go, go,” as the officer places the handcuffs on Young. Young asked “what’s going on” when officers showed up.

Body camera footage shows an officer grabbing a large blanket and then dropping it after seeing an officer in front of him carrying a blanket to Young.

In all, Young was partially exposed for just over a minute before a blanket covered her. After covering her with a blanket, an agent took her to the bathroom to change after about 12 minutes.

Days later, the city used the existence of surveillance research to prevent Young from accessing the videos. The city denied the FOIA’s request, citing the ongoing oversight investigation. State legislation allows cities to withhold documents when there are ongoing investigations. No supervisor of the police department initiated an internal investigation, although it became clear that night that they acted on the misinformation.

The investigation is likely to analyze the information used to obtain the order and conduct of the agents during the order. Chicago police sources who reviewed the footage told CNN that the raid followed general training guidelines during command services where weapons were expected. Early agents through the door cleaned rooms while one placed handcuffs on the adults until the space was secure, which is a normal procedure for gun orders.

Changes to the warranty policy

At Thursday’s press conference, Mayor Lightfoot outlined the changes that had been made to the city’s search order policy prior to the WBBM report, along with other reforms implemented this month. Some changes were implemented in January, after this case caught his attention. Others have been implemented more recently.

Now, the warranties require additional approval from the supervisor and warranties issued on the basis of misinformation will result in automatic investigations, Lightfoot said.

It is unclear whether the supervisor’s approval would have altered the approval of the order bringing the officers to Young’s home. It was signed by a county judge who heard the testimony of someone who identified Young’s house as the home of a criminal and who swore to be sworn that he would be inside that house with the criminal while he was armed. .

Two police sources said the sergeant overseeing the raid was not the usual supervisor of the officer listed on the order.

Police Superintendent Brown said the department was reviewing search warrants. “We are reviewing all search orders to make sure we capture all the search orders that are at stake this year; we want to review everything in this year’s hopper to see what we have,” he said.

Taking to the streets is a matter of cultural importance within the Chicago Police Department given the scope of the city’s problem of armed violence, and during press conferences, city leaders often announce the number of ‘weapons taken every year.

At Thursday’s press conference, Brown said the city was stepping up to seize 11,000 weapons this year, “each of the life-threatening forces.”