CHICAGO (CBS) — The city’s top watchdog has released a blistering report about how the city handled the aftermath of the botched police raid on Anjanette Young’s home, detailing the extent of misconduct carried out by multiple city agencies, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office, Chicago Police Department, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
The findings come one month after the City Council approved a $2.9 million settlement with Anjanette Young, the innocent social worker who was handcuffed naked during a wrongful police raid nearly three years ago.
As part of its latest quarterly report, the city’s Office of Inspector General included a summary report of its investigation into the city’s response to the botched raid. The findings are damning and continue to prove how individuals across CPD, the mayor’s office, and COPA worked to cover up the video and minimized what happened, by failing to report it and also by issuing blanket denials of the video.
The report says the “inefficient and wasteful management fell into three categories: false or unfounded statements; disregard for COPA’s role and independence; and unbecoming conduct by [Law Department] personnel.”
The inspector general’s office reviewed thousands of emails as part of its probe, and conducted three dozen interviews with city employees.
“OIG’s investigation revealed a failure of City government that, taken as a whole, adds up to more than a sequence of individual actions by City employees. Many of the Mayor’s Office, COPA, CPD, and DOL employees OIG interviewed played roles in a series of events that violated proper government practices, if not formal policies, and which were exceedingly harmful to Young,” the report stated.
CBS 2 is still reviewing the IG report, and this story will be updated with more details.