CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — While the city mourns the fatal shooting of Chicago police officer Ella French, some Chicagoans have noticed what appears to be a widening moat between their mayor and police force. And a recent photo of police officers reportedly shunning the mayor isn’t convincing them otherwise.
The photo circulated Monday on social media shows a group of Chicago police officers reportedly turning their backs toward Mayor Lori Lightfoot when she attempted to speak to them at the hospital where an officer who was also wounded is recovering in critical condition.
Lightfoot responded to the shunning reports, saying, through a representative, that she was at University of Chicago Medicine to offer support and condolences to the families involved and the hundreds of line officers there.
"In a time of tragedy, emotions run high. That's to be expected,” a statement from the mayor’s office read.
French, 29, was killed after she and that officer were shot during a traffic stop Saturday night in West Englewood. French died from a single gunshot to the back of her head and her 39-year-old male partner was shot “once in the right eye, once in the right shoulder and one bullet lodged in his brain.” A third officer at the scene called for backup.
Fox News host Sean Hannity also caught wind of the incident and posted the photo on Twitter. He received nearly 600 retweets and nearly 3,500 likes as of Tuesday evening.
While having a conservative personality such as Hannity spotlighting the photo isn’t shocking, a few Chicagoans saw the national attention it received as airing the city’s dirty laundry.
“It’s kind of embarrassing. Basically, the whole nation’s saying, like, ‘Oh, yeah…the CPD and the mayor don’t get along.’ It's really divisive,” Jacob Von Tobel told WBBM Newsradio. “It feels like now there's multiple parts sort of fighting each other.”
Malik Emir El said he found the officers’ actions disrespectful.
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“For them to turn their backs on her was just a straight out, to me, disgrace to Chicago itself because she's still the mayor. Regardless of how you like or dislike her, you should always show respect to her,” Emir El told WBBM Newsradio.
Clearly, not every Chicagoan feels that way and several have expressed their pride in the officers' actions on social media.
Bruce B. Askew Jr., a retired Chicago police officer who served 28-years with the department, viewed his former coworkers’ act as a political statement.
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“That's basically a vote of no confidence, that they have no confidence in the mayor,” Askew told WBBM Newsradio.
That lack of confidence stems from growing feelings among some officers that the mayor is not supportive of them based on reforms she's making to the department.
“They're coming up with more and more ways to restrict police officers,” Askew said, referencing the new no foot chase policy Lightfoot and Police Supt. David Brown unveiled last spring.
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Lightfoot joined community activists in criticizing the police department’s chase policy following the shootings of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez, who were fatally struck by officers after being chased in separate incidents last March.
In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice found that the Chicago Police Department engaged in “unsound and unnecessary” foot pursuits that often ended with “unreasonably shooting someone,” including unarmed persons.
The revised foot pursuit policy took effect on June 11 and aims to make chases appropriate if there’s probable cause for an arrest but prohibits them for a minor traffic offense or criminal offenses less than a Class A misdemeanors. The new policy is expected to be finalized in September.
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Though Brown said back in May that much of what’s in the policy has long been advised in training, Askew said officers still feel handcuffed by the changes.
“So basically, if I take my gun and smack you upside the head, and the police see me, I run away, they can't chase me,” Askew said.
Ald. Raymond Lopez of the 15th Ward shared a video last week of Chicago police officers struggling to arrest individuals and dropping their body cameras and handcuffs on the ground. At one point in the video, an officer is seen tussling with someone who gets any and as that officer begins to chase him another holds him back.
Lopez, a critic of Lightfoot, wrote in the video post, "Can’t follow in a car. Can’t chase on foot. Can’t tase an armed suspect. Won’t prosecute the arrested."
The alderman wrote that the police department is “a joke” because of Lightfoot and Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx.
The sentiments about the new policy, other police oversight efforts along with calls from community activists to defund the police — something Lightfoot repeatedly said she won’t do — are among the reasons why some officers may have felt moved to turn their backs on her.
“I can understand some of the the disappointment those officers might feel but, I mean, she's doing her best. It’s nobody's fault other than the people who actually were involved in the situation. She inherited this problem with all this violence we have going on right now,” Alaya Wilson told WBBM Newsradio.
French’s shooting death has placed the city’s years-long struggle to curb gun violence back on the national stage. The tragedy also served as a reminder that illegally obtained firearms are often used in those violent encounters.
Federal prosecutors said the gun used by the alleged shooter, 21-year-old Emonte Morgan, was purchased by a Hammond, Indiana man who acted as “straw purchaser.”
Emonte Morgan was charged with first-degree murder and other felony offenses. His brother, Eric Morgan, 22, faces obstruction charges, among others, for trying to dispose of the weapon. Both men were denied bail Tuesday.
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