Chicago expected to pay woman $2.9M over botched police raid
The Chicago City Council is expected to approve a $2.9 million settlement to a woman who was handcuffed while naked by police officers during a botched 2019 raid of her home
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Chicago City Council committee on Monday recommended paying $2.9 million to a woman who was handcuffed while naked by police officers during a botched raid of her home in 2019.
The Finance Committee's unanimous approval to recommend the settlement for social worker Anjanette Young will be considered Wednesday by the full City Council, which almost always follows the committee's recommendations.
“The city has never disputed Ms. Young suffered an indignity” during the raid, city Corporation Counsel Celia Meza told the Finance Committee, according to the Chicago Tribune
Kristen Cabanban, a spokeswoman for the city's legal department, said Young's attorney agreed to the settlement. The attorney, Keenan Saulter, didn't immediately reply to an Associated Press seeking comment.
The proposed settlement is an effort to make amends for a national embarrassment for the police department and a scandal for Mayor Lori Lightfoot
Not only did the officers who raided Young's apartment not let her get dressed, but she was right when she repeatedly told them they were at the wrong address.
After the committee meeting, Cabanban said the investigation revealed that police forced Young to remain naked for 16 seconds and that what they put over her kept falling off before she was allowed to get dressed about 40 minutes after the officers arrived.
Meanwhile, Lightfoot's claims that she had no knowledge of the raid were proven false when emails revealed that her staff had told her. Lightfoot came under more criticism when city attorneys tried to get a court order to prevent a local television station from airing video of the raid at Young's home.
The episode was damaging to Lightfoot, who ran for office as a reformer only to be caught up in a scandal similar to the one that embroiled her predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, who just a few years earlier tried to prevent the release of dashcam video of the fatal police shooting of Black teenager Laquan McDonald.
Young filed a lawsuit in February that named the city and 12 police officers as defendants and contended that police officials had failed to independently investigate and verify the place to be searched. Young also filed a federal lawsuit against the city in connection with the raid, but that lawsuit was dismissed last year.
The proposed settlement was not a surprise, as the city's legal department said earlier this year that it was working to resolve the matter. Such a settlement became even more likely when the city's Civilian Office of Police Accountability called for the suspension or firing of eight officers in a report released last month.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.