The Chicago Police Department on Thursday opened an internal investigation in response to video that showed more than a dozen officers "lounging" in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush's campaign office as protests and looting erupted in Chicago earlier this month.
Rush, who revealed the incident alongside Chicago police leadership and Mayor Lori Lightfoot, said he received a call nearly two weeks ago telling him his office at 5401 S. Wentworth Ave. had been burglarized- a scene he assumed was due to looters that had damaged businesses in the area following protests over the death of George Floyd.
The Chicago Police Department released a statement Thursday evening announcing an internal investigation into the officers' presence at the campaign office.
The video begins around 1 a.m. June 1 and shows multiple officers at the office at differing times, officials said. In total, as many as 13 officers, including supervisors, were involved, Lightfoot said. At the time, the mall and neighborhood where the office is located, had become targets of looting.
"We had 120 officers injured that night that they sat there," First Deputy Supt. of the Chicago Police Department Anthony Riccio said.
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown condemned the officers' actions.
Local
"I'm not playing with you that I mean what I say when I say we'll hold you accountable," Brown said. "Move, get out of the way, but we are going to uphold the nobility of this profession. This conduct is not representative but if it's not let's do something about it."
"If you sleep during a riot what do you do during a regular shift when there's no riot?" Brown added.
