* Chicago has shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to settle lawsuits filed against its police department. Here we go again…
* Tribune…
Tnika Tate, 39, said she was parking near a looted mall Sunday when Chicago police surrounded the vehicle, broke the windows and searched Tate and a group of four friends and relatives in the car with her.
Tate said an officer restrained her cousin Mia Wright, 25, by placing a knee on Wright’s neck while she was prone on the ground. Wright was charged with disorderly conduct and released Monday, according to police and the family.
A video of part of the incident was taken by family friend James Smith, 40, who was driving in a second car. A copy of the video was first published by the nonprofit digital news organization Block Club Chicago, and Smith provided the Tribune with a copy later Wednesday.
“She never resisted. It could have been something deadly,” Tate told the Tribune on Wednesday.
* WGN TV…
Tate is a longtime funeral director in Chicago, and said she and her family were just hoping to shop at Target.
Police were responding to reports of looting at the mall, but the family says they didn’t know how officers on the scene could have suspected they were involved.
Wright works at that funeral home.
* Keep in mind that Wright was ultimately charged with “disorderly conduct,” which is a city ordinance violation. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office says the Chicago police did not refer the case to the state’s attorney for felony review. And the state’s attorney won’t have any role in the prosecution…
[Family attorney Nenye Uche] also called for the disorderly conduct charge against Wright to be immediately dropped.
The family still doesn’t understand why police targeted their car in the first place and is demanding answers.
Wright was in the front passenger seat of her cousin’s car Sunday when police, for no apparent reason, began to smash the windows of the vehicle with batons and order everyone out.
An officer grabbed Wright’s hair, which had been wound into a bun, and yanked her from the car, Wright said.
While Wright was on the ground, the officer knelt on her back and neck. Wright, who got a piece of glass in her eye during from the shattered window, was held overnight at a nearby police station, she said.
* CBS 2…
But what bothers them more than anything is when Wright was yanked from the car. The family said one officer held her down by putting his knee on her back and neck.
“They approached my car so forcefully where they just started bamming and hitting at my car, then they bust out three windows of mine, and then they actually tore off my door handle – the passenger side door handle – and they literally drug my little cousin Mia out to the ground,” Tate said.
“I felt like an animal,” Wright said. “They pulled me by my hair, dragged me out the vehicle, had my face down on the concrete. The officer had his knee in my neck. I just felt like an animal. I felt like I wasn’t nothing, like I was not even a human being at that moment.”
Wright was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct.
* Block Club Chicago…
As Wright was being pinned to the ground, she said what happened to Floyd flashed in her mind.
“It hit me at that moment. That’s all I thought about. I heard people screaming, ‘Why do you have your knee in her neck?’ That’s why people are protesting,” Wright said. “It was horrible. It was a moment I was scared for my life.” […]
At the station, Wright said she was verbally abused by a sergeant.
“The sergeant opened the door and he looked me in the face and called me a f—— savage,” she said.
While in lockup, she said she wasn’t given access to an attorney and couldn’t call her mother for more than six hours.
Wright was released 16 hours later with a charge of disorderly conduct. Officers said she was gathered with three or more people with intent to disturb the peace — but Wright said she and her four family members were sitting quietly in their car.
* New York Times…
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has launched an investigation into the encounter Sunday at Brickyard Mall on the city’s West Side in which police said in a statement that Mia Wright was charged with disorderly conduct. It has also started investigating another incident captured on video showing an officer chasing and punching a protester after a demonstration about the death of George Floyd last week. […]
At a Thursday news conference, Mayor Lightfoot and Police Superintendent David Brown said the police department was working with COPA — which is investigating both incidents captured on the two videos — to identify the officers involved. Lightfoot said as soon as they are identified, their names will be given to Brown, and she promised that any officers who acted improperly would be held accountable.
Still, Lightfoot cautioned that as disturbing as the video at the shopping center might be, the public should not jump to any conclusions. “You can’t just accept everything at face value that you see, and that includes video,” she said.
* From the state’s attorney…
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office is committed to public safety and pursuing the fair administration of justice for everyone in our communities. We are aware of the incident that occurred at Brickyard Mall and are currently conducting a thorough, independent review of the matter, including the conduct of the police officers involved. We take law enforcement accountability seriously and have reached out to the family involved through their attorney.
* Last word…
…Adding… Gov. Pritzker was asked about the incident today…
What I saw was horrific. It was horrific. I mean what happened, thank God it didn’t end like George Floyd. But the police that did it are being investigated
- Excitable Boy - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:27 pm:
These cops need to be charged criminally. This is assault and battery plain as day.
- Former Downstater - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:31 pm:
Taxpayers pay for bad cops’ salaries and benefits. Taxpayers pay for bad cops’ pensions. Taxpayers pay settlements due to bad cops’ actions. I’m the most pro-union guy you’ll find but this has to stop. They have to pay for their bad actions.
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:31 pm:
Now to begin the multi-year process of disciplining the officers, which will of course go nowhere. All officers involved will remain on the street.
Lori’s background in police accountability was what set her up as a “reformer.” She is truly dropping the ball on this issue right now.
- MrX - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:34 pm:
The amount of video of police still doing incredibly stupid stuff like this when they know they’re under a microscope is really amazing.
- Union thug - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:38 pm:
Allow mw to point out.. Disorderly conduct has become a catch all for just want to arest the person. Every city has it and use it way to much. It’s way too broad of a definition to be a criminal activity
- Last Bull Moose - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:38 pm:
If the video shows the officer with his knee on her neck, he should be fired immediately for sheer stupidity. Yes the video needs to be checked for validity.
- Benny - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:43 pm:
Always 3 sides to every story you’re only getting one in all of this….
- Fly like an eagle - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:46 pm:
1:00 on a Sunday afternoon at a store open to the public. Did anyone see them put stolen things in their car? How do the officers determine “intent”?
We seriously have to fix our police officer training. No human can naturally be this stupid. Such stupidity has to be learned.
- Fixer - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:49 pm:
Anyone else does what these cops did, they’re going to jail, criminally charged, and most likely fired by their employer. These guys will likely get “discipline” and then back to work only for FOP to get the discipline dropped.
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:50 pm:
Also, I’m hoping someone reached out to FOP for a comment. It needs to be front-and-center how comical they are in responding to any misconduct allegations.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:51 pm:
===Always 3 sides to every story===
‘
Please. If Ms. Wright was truly presenting a mortal threat, they would’ve charged her with a felony. And if she wasn’t presenting a mortal threat, there is zero excuse for this reaction.
- LkBrightSideofLlife - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:54 pm:
Look away. Nothing to see here!
It’s not be the first time or last time Chciago PD overreacted to a non-threat. It’s a very hard job, but these mistakes are just mindblowing considering what is going on. My prediction is nothing will change. For the amount of money they are paid, the least they could be is properly trained for those situations.
- Glengarry - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:07 pm:
The police have been militarized for way to long. Especially the CPD. The state statute for disorderly conduct is so broad almost anyone breathing can be charged with it. The statute for disorderly conduct needs to be rewritten.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:10 pm:
The question has to be… why all that unneeded use of force?
If all that force was necessity, what are the charges? (rhetorical)
Here comes the lawsuit.
- Dance Band on the Titanic - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:14 pm:
- Benny - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 3:43 pm:
Always 3 sides to every story you’re only getting one in all of this….
The body cam footage should be a very interesting side of this.
- downstate dem - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:20 pm:
Send a FOIA request for the bodycam video and audio files.
- Quibbler - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:22 pm:
Cops restraining a defenseless black woman by kneeling on her neck, in the middle of near-unprecedented nationwide protests over a defenseless black man killed by police kneeling on his neck. If they don’t care now, they never will. Policing can’t be reformed. It has to be defunded.
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:23 pm:
I would think if you are too stupid to know there are people with phone cameras everywhere you are too Stupidity d to be hired as a cop
- Rabid - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:24 pm:
Did Karen make the call about looters
- Leslie K - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:24 pm:
There had to be a trigger for this. But I cannot fathom a trigger, based on available evidence, that would justify this response. What did they call the 1968 convention…a police riot? Training doesn’t fix this sort of thing. Culture change does. And that’s much more challenging…
- Jocko - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:30 pm:
Good grief (exclamation point). I have to hope that body cameras can provide some justification for their actions. This was like a Twilight Zone version of Reginald Denny.
- DuPage Dave - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:40 pm:
Difficult to say what part of sitting in the family car then getting thrown to the ground constitutes “disorderly conduct”.
- Red Ketcher - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 4:48 pm:
n the case of The City of Chicago v. Blakemore, 15 Ill. App. 3d 994, 305 N.E.2d 687 (1st Dist. 1973) the court said police officers cannot be victims of disorderly conduct
So if this is allegedly traditional ” alarm & disturb” disorderly it appears highly questionable. It’s the Cop’s job to deal with it.
If, hwever ,it was a “false report” or “bomb threat” then could be a possible Disorderly charge.
But either way the Police action looks bad
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 5:03 pm:
This is a great example of a situation where every officer involved should be fired and never allowed to be a police officer in the State of Illinois again.
Since the police are no doubt going to have difficulty identifying this publicly funded lynch mob, here are a few hints: cell phone GPS data. GPS data for whatever system is in their vehicle. If someone shows up with no GPS data for that time period, fire them.
Every single cop in this video is demonstrating the need for institutional inform, and it starts with every single cop in this video being fired.
They are beyond the expense of public investment to teach them to be anything other than hate filled monsters. Fire them and lets bring in some new folks that haven’t been taught how to be terrorists.
- billy boy - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 5:12 pm:
Police have gone to far law enforcement is to protect and serve and enforce the law of the land not make their own law as they see fit and to be the judge jury and may I say executioner
- I said it - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 5:18 pm:
blue lives matter, all lives matter
- Demoralized - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 5:22 pm:
I said it:
You are part of the problem
- Henry Francis - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 5:27 pm:
These cops couldn’t treat a nonviolent person like that. The cops did it because they saw them as “f-ing savages” as they sat in their car.
The woman laying on the ground with a knee on her neck, watching a mob of angry cops bust out the windows of the car and drag her family members out of the car. She is the “f-ing savage”.
- Lynn S. - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 6:03 pm:
I’m not the most technically adept person, but in that 30 second video, I count at least 6, and possibly 10-12 police officers surrounding the car.
And someone tries to put their hand in front of the cell phone camera? If they don’t want to get in trouble, perhaps they shouldn’t have surrounded the car in the first place?
Looking like the City should get out their checkbook now. I have absolutely no faith that any of these officers will be successfully disciplined, much less fired
Criminal charges should be filed against every officer in that video, but it’s more likely that I’ll grow 6 inches in the next 5 seconds.
- Pundent - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 6:05 pm:
= Training doesn’t fix this sort of thing. Culture change does. =
At a minimum the culture makes this permissible at worst it encourages it. They should all be fired. It’s the only way you’ll change the culture.
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 7:47 pm:
Why in the world are the cops screaming to get out of the car while they are beating the doors with batons?
- Rich Hill - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 8:19 pm:
Putting aside the moral horrors of this brutality, given the draconian budget cuts facing municipalities, who will be willing to foot the bill for this violence anymore?
- Karen - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 8:53 pm:
The calls to defund the police now have a ring of reason to them. The FOP, especially with the new boss, only exacerbates the culture and climate issues in the CPD. What if Lightfoot doesn’t negotiate a new contract? Instead of defund the police, defund the FOP? I am as pro-labor as they come but the FOP is part of the problem.
- ESR - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 8:58 pm:
“Policing can’t be reformed. It has to be defunded.”
Regardless of the dastardly deeds of bad cops, this kind of ignorant sentiment needs to be stamped out if there is to be hope for the nation to move en masse toward needed reforms.
- LastOneIn - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 9:16 pm:
Many police departments administer IQ tests and will not hire anyone with an average or higher IQ. They want cops who will follow orders and not question their orders.
- 37B - Thursday, Jun 4, 20 @ 11:28 pm:
Luckily, all CPD patrol officers are required to have their body cams on when engaging the public in situations like this. Have it all sorted out in no time.
Oops? Forgot to turn them on?
- Fly like an eagle - Friday, Jun 5, 20 @ 12:26 pm:
== Many police departments administer IQ tests and will not hire anyone with an average or higher IQ. They want cops who will follow orders and not question their orders.==
Yeah, I’ve been hearing that urban legend all my life. Like the ghost hitchhiker and that other one, the panhandler that is secretly a millionaire. I’ll believe these when someone actually offers proof.