Aldermen decline to advance Anjanette Young Ordinance out of City Council committee

Ordinance named for woman whose home was wrongly raided by CPD in 2019

ByJessica D'Onofrio, Leah Hope, and ABC7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo

Friday, November 11, 2022

Anjanette Young vows to keep fighting for search warrant reforms

Anjanette Young, the woman who was handcuffed while naked during a botched police raid, said she wants to make sure no one has to go what she went through.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago City Council Public Safety Committee voted against advancing the Anjanette Young Ordinance Thursday.

The ordinance is named for the woman whose home was wrongly raided by Chicago police in February 2019. The ordinance was first introduced to the city council last year.

After hearing testimony, four aldermen voted in favor of it and 10 voted against it, leaving the ordinance in committee.

Young testified Thursday morning in person in front of the committee. She said she wants to make sure no one has to go what she went through.

"I did not lose my physical life that night, but I lost a lot of my life that night," Young said. "My life will never be the same because of that experience."

WATCH: Anjanette Young testifies before City Council committee

The victim of a wrongful police raid that made national headlines in Chicago is speaking out before a City Council committee.

Young allowed video of the 2019 raid to go public as she stood naked after more than a dozen officers burst into her home with a warrant that turned out to have faulty information.

Young asked aldermen to consider what that experience would be like for the women in their lives.

"Imagine it was your mother who was standing there," Young said. "None of us would have wanted our mother to have that type of experience. But guess what, I am someone's mother. See me in that frame. See me as your mother, someone who deserves Dignity and respect regardless of the situation."

The committee considered the ordinance that would go beyond search warrant reforms already adopted by CPD. It would ban the use of no-knock warrants and ensure the use of officers' body-worn cameras.

It would also include measures to make sure police confirm whether or not the actual target of an investigation lives in the home police plan to raid and avoid raids when children are present.

Representatives of CPD and the mayor's office testified changes have been made to policy and more is being reviewed.

"Today the department is currently working through the process to review search warrant policy under consent decree guidelines," said Chief Angel Novales, with CPD's constitutional policing and reform unit.

"Where adequate remedies exist codifying CPD policy into municipal law becomes sticky and duplicative," Deputy Mayor Elena Gottreich said.

Alderman Nick Sposato was among those who voted no.

"It's a terrible thing," Sposato said. "If that happened to my mother or my wife or my daughter, I'd be pretty pissed off, but you know corrections were made. It was a terrible accident."

"Shame on city council for not moving forward on this today," Young said. "But I will continue to fight until we receive the results we are looking for."

Back in February of 2019, Young, who is a social worker, was in the middle of changing her clothes when officers raided her house.

She said she was left naked and handcuffed for 40 minutes despite pleas to officers to allow her to put her clothes on.

The person they were searching for lived next door and later police learned they had bad information.

Young settled a lawsuit with the city for $2.9 million.

Alderperson Maria Hadden said the ordinance also includes language that would demand that the city be transparent with information on wrongful raids.

However, opponents said the ordinance could prevent officers from being able to respond to quickly changing circumstances and could put them in danger.

Hadden said the ordinance has 20 co-sponsors from City Council.

"I think it's important for people to know that these aren't high standards, they are best practices," Hadden said. "They're basic recommendations and if people aren't performing these things, they probably shouldn't be doing their jobs."

Young said she still suffers from PTSD and depression following the 2019 raid on her home. She added that advocating to protect others from this type of trauma is part of her healing.