A botched raid on an apartment in Chicago in 2019 resulted in a humiliating experience for Chicago social worker Anjanette Young. After knocking down her door, the police realized in less than a minute that the suspect in a firearms case was not present. But they forced Ms. Young to stand around naked while they searched her home and quizzed her on the whereabouts of a man she didn’t even know.
It turns out that the cops had knocked on the wrong door. Worse, it was a preventable mistake since the sergeant who got the search warrant blatantly violated procedures.
But while Ms. Young was standing naked in her living room, a female officer arrived about 15 minutes after the raid started. Ella French ended up being praised by Ms. Young for showing her “dignity and respect.”
The wrong raid on Young’s home was first exposed by CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini. Young was handcuffed naked and terrified by officers on a botched raid who had the wrong home.
French was among the officers present, and Young said French was the only officer who showed her “any dignity or respect on the night of the raid.” A spokeswoman for Young identified French as the female officer who arrived at her home 13 minutes into the botched 2019 raid, and walked her to a room so she could get dressed.
“Officer French assisted Ms. Young and allowed her to get dressed, in the privacy of her bedroom. Officer French was the only officer who showed Ms. Young any dignity or respect on the night of the raid,” a spokeswoman for Young said in a statement. “Ms. Young is praying for Officer French’s family and offers her sincerest condolences to them and all of Officer French’s friends and colleagues.”
Officer French was murdered in August during a traffic stop. But the COPA report, written last April, recommended that French be suspended for not wearing her body camera. Officer French’s brother seemed bewildered: “You can’t suspend somebody who isn’t here,” he said.
COPA blamed the snafu on the paperwork shuffle.
“COPA’s Summary Report and investigation into the raid on Ms. Anjanette Young’s residence by members of the Chicago Police Department was completed on April 27, 2021.
“Per ordinance (Municipal Code of Chicago 2-78-145), COPA must make reports open to public inspection. COPA can only redact information to the extent it is exempted from disclosure by the the freedom of information act or any other applicable law. COPA released the report, previously completed April 27, 2021, as required by ordinance.
“Following the review and concurrence by the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, as well as serving of administrative charges, we carefully considered the release of the report and its impact on Ms. Anjanette Young and Ella French’s family.
Ms. Young got pretty much everything she wanted. The hapless police sergeant whose sloppy work led to the incident in the first place will probably end up being fired.
Another officer, Alain Aporongao, who obtained the search warrant, was “the most culpable for the harm” according to COPA and should be suspended for at least 180 days.
Five other officers had suspension recommendations of from one to 60 days — including the dead hero cop French.
COPA has been much maligned by Chicago police for their insensitivity to situations police often find themselves in. Being dead and suspended at the same time would be a first for the civilian oversight board and probably won’t be the last.
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