Lightfoot vows to regain trust after video shows Chicago police raid innocent woman's home

Evelyn Holmes Image
Friday, December 18, 2020
Lightfoot vows to regain trust after Chicago police raid innocent woman's home
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is vowing change after bodycam video of a Chicago police raid on the wrong house was released, even as city legal officials tried to suppress it.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot is vowing change after a botched Chicago police raid of an innocent woman's home and the troubling legal fight that followed.

She's also vowing to regain the trust of the community, which she acknowledges she may have lost this week.

RELATED: Bodycam video shows Chicago police raid wrong house

Chicago police said officers were executing a search warrant on what turned out to be an innocent woman's home in February 2019.

"I talked to my sisters about it," Lightfoot said. "It's devastating."

A humble, yet determined Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she wants to make things right following fallout from a mistaken Chicago police raid of the home of social worker Anjanette young, who was made to stand handcuffed and naked for nearly an hour.

"I haven't seen the entirety of the footage, just what what was posted on the website," Lightfoot said. "But you can see right away, they realize there's a problem."

WATCH: Chicago mayor becomes emotional while discussing wrong raid video

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown and Mayor Lori LIghtfoot speak about the body camera video showing a CPD raid on a wrong house in 2019.

In a sit down interview Thursday afternoon, the first-term mayor said she has ordered a complete review of what went wrong.

"That woman's dignity was denied her," Lightfoot said. "She was humiliated."

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability's nearly year-long investigation is ongoing.

"I have told the head of COPA, I want to know every detail," Lightfoot said. "I want to know how they came to be at her house. I want to know what happened while they were there and i want to know what happened afterwards."

RELATED: Lightfoot admits she knew about botched raid, orders changes

Mayor Lightfoot admitted she had been informed about the case in a series of emails in November 2019, but she said she didn't remember because she was caught up with the budget.

While Lightfoot said the officers involved must be held accountable, she's also taking issue with her Law Department corporation counsel's efforts to keep the footage of the 2019 incident from both young and the public.

"I have expressed to him my feeling about what when wrong and why it went wrong and what has to change for me to have confidence he can continue on," Lightfoot said.

The comments followed an at-times emotional news conference, where the mayor took full responsibility for the city's actions. Lightfoot said she knows that trust in her has been damaged as she vows to fix what has been broken.

"I own this absolutely," Lightfoot said. 'And I've got to do everything in my power to make this right for Ms. Young and for every other person who has been victimized."

The mayor said she has reached out to Ms. Young through her counsel. She said she wants not only to apologize to her personally, but also get her take on how to make improvements so that this doesn't happen to anyone again.

Raiding wrong addresses has cost the city lots of money in legal fees settlements and good will.
Copyright © 2024 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.