Bodycam footage finally released after nearly two years shows police in Chicago terrorizing an innocent Black woman who was naked in her home when cops executed a baseless search warrant that was granted under shady circumstances. The video was reluctantly released by the city of Chicago, which fought unsuccessfully to keep it from being made public out of likely fear it would bring further shame on a police department mired in corruption that many times ends in death.
Anjanette Young recently recalled her traumatic experience to CBS Chicago in an emotional interview that underscored the levels of PTSD she is seemingly still suffering from following the surprise police encounter on Feb. 21, 2019. It was about 7 p.m. that night when police came bursting into her home as she undressed in her bedroom following a long day working as a social worker, her career of two decades.
The video shows police identifying themselves and displaying their warrant but refused to answer any of Young’s questions about who and what they were looking for. Instead, they handcuffed her and forced her to stand naked in her living room for more than 10 minutes while they conducted a search for a suspect who was next door and under electronic surveillance with an ankle monitor.
The way the warrant was obtained was shady, at best.
“Despite no evidence in the complaint that police made efforts to independently verify the informant’s tip [about Young’s home], such as conducting any surveillance or additional checks as required by policy, the search warrant was approved by an assistant state’s attorney and a judge,” CBS Chiucago reported.
When police finally accepted the fact that they had raided the wrong residence, they got an attitude with Young for demanding answers. CBS Chicago counted at least 43 times that Young told cops they were in the wrong place.
“OK, OK, you don’t have to shout,” an officer has the nerve to tell Young on the bodycam video, which was suspiciously turned on and off manually during certain points of the botched raid.
Young, who is suing the Chicago Police Department, said she had been denied on multiple occasions access to the bodycam footage that she wanted to use as evidence in her lawsuit.
“I feel like they didn’t want us to have this video because they knew how bad it was,” Young told CBS Chicago. “They knew they had done something wrong. They knew that the way they treated me was not right.”
The city even tried to stop CBS Chicago from airing the footage by filing an emergency motion in federal court.
Luckily for Young, the situation didn’t turn deadly like how the botched raid and warrant execution killed Breonna Taylor in her own home earlier this year in Lousiville, Kentucky.
Notably, the apparent coverup was taking place on the watch of then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was also presiding over the city when rogue cop Jason Van Dyke killed Black teenager Laquan McDonald by shooting him 16 times. Police and the city also attempted to cover-up that case of police misconduct, to put it mildly, by withholding video footage from that shooting.
Likewise, after CPD shot and killed Harith Augustus, a 37-year-old Black barber, in 2018, the department was also accused of withholding bodycam footage.
Noticing a pattern here?
Rahm Emanuel decided against seeking re-election five months after the cops raided Young’s home. And now Joe Biden is reportedly considering him for a “high-level” position within his presidential administration.
This is America.
SEE ALSO:
From Fred Hampton To Laquan McDonald: Why We Should Always Question The Chicago PD
Chicago Police Accused Of New Coverup Over ‘Withheld’ Video Of Cops Killing Harith Augustus
