Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Monday that Celia Meza, her counsel and senior ethics advisor, has been appointed to fill the role of acting corporation counsel following the resignation of the city's top lawyer amid uproar over the response to a botched CPD raid in 2019.
"She has impeccable character," Lightfoot said of Meza, noting that the two previously worked together in U.S. attorney's office.
The announcement comes after the city's top lawyer, Mark Flessner, resigned his post as corporation counsel for the city of Chicago over the weekend after criticism as the city tried to keep 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.
The raid, which took place in Feb. 2019, came to light in recent days after a video was published, which showed a handcuffed Young standing naked in her home for several minutes. Young is heard in the video telling officers that they are in the wrong home, and she and her attorney confirm that her home was not the target of the search warrant.
Video of the incident was later obtained by Young as part of a lawsuit against the city, and was obtained by several Chicago news outlets, including NBC 5.
All Chicago officers involved in the raid have been placed on desk duty amid an investigation into what happened, Lightfoot also announced Monday.
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According to the mayor, the officers, under the direction of CPD Supt. David Brown, will remain off the streets until the investigation is complete.
"I firmly believe in justice delayed is justice denied," Lightfoot said in an address from City Hall.
