CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Chicago social worker who was handcuffed naked by police during a 2019 “wrong raid” says she wants Mayor Lightfoot to hold officers accountable and explain publicly how she can “fix” a system that allowed her harrowing experience to happen.
Social worker Anjanette Young said she supported Lightfoot after the then-mayoral candidate visited her church.
Young and her attorneys say they have been stymied by police as they demanded answers about the wrongful raid of Young’s home nearly two years ago. She says she was forced to stand naked in front of officers while handcuffed as she repeatedly told police they had the wrong house.
Related
“I want you to come back to my church,” Young, addressing the mayor, said at a news conference with her attorneys. “I want you to respond to this because that’s where you asked me to vote for you. So, come back and tell me and the people at my church how you’re going to fix this so that this never happens again to me or anyone else. It’s not okay.”
Young said she continues to be traumatized by the Feb. 21, 2019 incident, which predates Lightfoot’s tenure as mayor. Lightfoot was sworn in that May, but her administration is accused of trying to tamp down the story by preventing release of police body-cam video of the raid.
The city’s Law Department unsuccessfully sought to prevent CBS Chicago from airing portions the video.
Lightfoot on Wednesday apologized for the ordeal Young went through: "What you experienced should never have happened."
Lightfoot called the situation a "colossal mess" and says she would have intervened had she known her administration was trying to block the video's release. The mayor said she only learned about the incident on Tuesday.
Still, eight City Council members called for a hearing to air the circumstances.
“The body camera footage of the Chicago Police Department raid on the home of Ms. Anjanette Young is deeply painful to watch. Ms. Young is unclothed, handcuffed, and crying as police officers ransack her apartment with their guns raised. Her life was in danger,” the group said in a news release.
“This footage sheds light on troubling police misconduct, from their failure to perform due diligence on the address for the warrant to the lack of basic dignity afforded to Ms. Young. So why was it kept under wraps for so long?”
The council members asking for a hearing are: Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, Andre Vasquez, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Maria Hadden, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Jeanette Taylor, Matt Martin, and Mike Rodriguez.
Related
