Two Chicago City Council committees are scheduled to hold a joint hearing on search warrants after a botched 2019 police raid on a woman's home resulted in the resignation of the city's top lawyer and several officers being placed on desk duty.
The joint hearing is subject matter only, with no votes scheduled, held by the Committee on Health and Human Relations and the Committee on Public Safety. The hearing is slated to begin at 11 a.m. via video conference.
Three members of City Council on Friday called a special meeting, also originally scheduled for Tuesday, to consider an order for the city's corporation counsel to "terminate any and all efforts" against Anjanette Young and her legal team as well as to "immediately negotiate, draft and do all things necessary to settle any legal action" with her.
That meeting request was rescinded Friday after the city filed a motion to withdraw sanctions against Young and after the aldermen said they had discussed with Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration that "high priority be placed on immediately remedying this matter in a manner sufficient" to Young.
Young and her attorney say police wrongly raided her home on Feb. 19, 2019, as they served a search warrant at the incorrect address. Recently released video showed officers handcuffed Young while she stood naked for several minutes, despite her saying dozens of times they were in the wrong home.
Videos of the incident that Young obtained as part of her lawsuit against the city were released last week and obtained by NBC 5. Lightfoot's administration tried to prevent the footage from being aired on television in an emergency court filing, which a federal judge rejected.
Lightfoot apologized for the "colossal mess" she said followed the raid that the woman said left her traumatized and all of the Chicago police officers involved have been placed on desk duty amid an investigation into the incident.
Local
The officers, under the direction of CPD Supt. David Brown, will remain off the streets until the investigation is complete, Lightfoot announced Monday.
"I firmly believe in justice delayed is justice denied," Lightfoot said in an address from City Hall.
That announcement came after the city's top lawyer, Mark Flessner, resigned his post as corporation counsel for Chicago over the weekend after criticism as the city tried to keep the footage of the raid from airing on television.
Lightfoot told NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern that she “sought and received” Flessner’s resignation, and met with the attorney at his home in Ukrainian Village.
She also announced Monday that Celia Meza, her counsel and senior ethics advisor, has been appointed to fill the role as acting corporation counsel.
Young said she is still dealing with the aftermath from the incident nearly two years later.
"This is so terrifying for me that two years later, I'm still dealing with it," Young said. "That the city has spent the last two years and, for lack of better words, is telling me that they did nothing wrong."
In the video, police officers can be heard knocking before shouting "police search warrant."
Young can be heard crying and screaming, “You've got the wrong house, you've got the wrong house.”
According to her attorney, Young repeated that phrase 43 times during the raid.
An officer ultimately threw a blanket over her shoulders at one point, but because she was handcuffed the blanket slipped off her shoulders, leaving her exposed again.
The scene was captured by body cameras officers on the scene were wearing.
"I pride myself in being a law-abiding citizen. I've always lived my life being truthful to what is right and wrong," Young said. "Working as a social worker, I've spent over 20 years working with families who deal with trauma, helping families through hard situations. And it's been very surreal and overwhelming to live this experience."
A spokesman for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, tasked with investigating police misconduct, said Young had not filed a complaint with COPA but that the agency initiated an investigation in November 2019 after it was notified that a lawsuit had been filed.
"COPA's investigation into this matter remains under active investigation and our commitment to a full and thorough investigation has not wavered," the statement reads, noting that the agency's findings and recommendations would be forwarded to CPD once the investigation is complete.
