Pastors want answers on Chicago police raid that wrongly targeted woman

Pastors disturbed about how Chicago police treated a Black woman whose home was mistakenly the target of a raid spoke with the mayor on Friday, demanding more information about the city’s efforts to keep a lid on bodycam video of the 2019 incident.

‘I feared for my life’: Chicago woman was targeted in raid when police went to wrong address

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Anjanette Young, a social worker, is seen on police video repeatedly pleading with officers that they are in the wrong place. She was not allowed to put on clothes before being handcuffed at her home.

The bodycam video was released on Thursday by Chicago officials after they tried this week to block WBBM-TV from airing it. The TV station had obtained it separately.

Some members of the city council called for a special meeting next week, to order the city to settle any legal action with Young, but later dropped the request.

Pastors spoke on Friday with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has publicly apologized for what happened to Young. The raid happened before Lightfoot’s election in spring 2019 but she has acknowledged that she was informed by fall of that year.

Some pastors believe city attorneys and police officers should be fired.

“Contrition does suggest there’s character,” Rev Ira Acree told reporters. “But with contrition must also come correction.”

The video shows officers using a battering ram to break the door. An officer threw a blanket over Young’s shoulders but because she was handcuffed the blanket slipped, leaving her exposed again.

“I don’t own a gun,” Young says to officers as she sobs. “I don’t even like guns. You’ve got the wrong place. I promise you. You are not going to find a gun here.”

Young’s lawsuit alleging civil rights violations was withdrawn in federal court in March, to refile it in Cook county. On Friday, the city of Chicago dropped a request that Young’s attorney be sanctioned for any role in how the TV station got the video, which the city said was part of a confidentiality order.

“I again want to reiterate and affirm my commitment to righting the wrongs in this case and moving forward with full transparency and accountability,” Lightfoot said.