Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Department filed in court to block local news station WBBM-Channel 2 from showing live body camera footage of Chicago Police officers raiding Anjanette Young’s home. They raided the wrong home, according to the Chicago Tribune, on Dec. 17, 2020.
Young, who is 50-years-old, said while she was getting ready for bed, armed officers barged into her home while she was naked, looking for a suspect wanted for unlawful use of a firearm by a felon and possession of ammunition and drugs.
She filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2019 to obtain the footage, but the police department turned her down and denied a separate FOIA request filed by CBS2. The news station was doing a series on police raids in the city of Chicago.
The city also filed to have her sanctioned for allegedly violating a confidentiality order. The federal judge denied the request.
The law department spokeswoman, Kathleen Fieweger, stated:
An obligation to repert the video was shared despite a confidentiality order
Lightfoot was questioned at an unrelated news conference. She was asked if she supports sanctions against the woman. The mayor told reporters:
I can not comment on that, a federal judge put rules in place. It is for the judge to determine whether or not it was appropriate.
The mayor also said the event took place before she was elected, but the city kept the video a secret under her administration. She said she did not know about Young’s incident until this past Tuesday in a released statement.
Written by Jessica Letcher
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware
Sources:
Yahoo! News: Chicago mayor accused of video cover-up; by Corky Siemaszko
The Chicago Tribune: Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration tried to block TV station from airing body camera footage of police raid on wrong home; by Gregory Pratt
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chicago District’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of BartShore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
