Chicago Police Board fires Alex Wolinski, sergeant involved in Anjanette Young raid
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Police Board on Thursday night fired the Chicago Police sergeant who had supervised the team of officers that wrongly raided the home of social worker Anjanette Young back in 2019.
On Feb. 21 of that year, the innocent social worker was changing her clothes when a team of officers burst into her home. She was handcuffed naked as officers swarmed her home with guns drawn. She can be seen on police body camera video repeatedly telling officers they were in the wrong place.
The CBS 2 Investigators found the suspect police were looking for, based on a tip from a confidential informant, was living in a neighboring apartment. He also was wearing a police tracking device while awaiting trial for a recent arrest.
In a December 2020 report by Investigator Dave Savini, CBS 2 first aired the disturbing body camera video showing officers entering Young's home and handcuffing her while she was naked.
The Police Board on Thursday issued its decision to fire Sgt. Alex Wolinski in connection with the botched raid.
The Police Board said officers broke down the door to Young's home with a battering ram, and detained and handcuffed Young while checking each room to see if anyone else was there. One officer a jacket around Young, but it failed to cover her, and another took a comforter off the bed which was placed on her shoulders, the board decision said.
As seen on body cam video, Young was crying and upset and demanded to know why the officers were there – telling them they were in the wrong place and repeatedly asking to get dressed.
About three and half minutes after the officers entered Young's home, one of the officers asked if Sgt. Wolinski had a copy of the search warrant involved in the raid – but Wolinski did not show Young the search warrant at that point. About five minutes after the officers came in, Wolinski stood near a countertop and asked Young to examine the warrant – but Young, still handcuffed and draped in the blanket, did not agree to do so, the Police Board decision said.
Soon afterward, Wolinski stood near Young and held the search warrant out.
About six minutes after officers entered, another officer went outside and asked Officer Ella French – who had been securing the area outside Young's home – to come inside and escort Young to the bedroom to get dressed. Wolinski never asked the officer to get Officer French, who was the only woman officer present – but did allow Young to be escorted into a bedroom with French to get dressed 11 minutes after officers first came into Young's home, the decision said.
Between 15 and 20 minutes after police first entered, Wolinski complied with Young's request to discuss the search warrant while Young was sitting on the couch, the decision said.
Wolinski then stepped away and talked with another officer about whether they had received "bad" information when it came to the search warrant, the decision said. Wolinski then handed Young a copy of the warrant for the first time – 15 minutes after officers had first entered, the decision said.
Wolinski later talked to Young about getting her door fixed, the decision said.
In 2021, then-police Supt. David Brown recommended Wolinski be fired. Wolinski was charged internally with allowing for a search warrant execution without adhering to the knock and announce rule, failing to intervene in disrespectful treatment toward Young by officers during the raid, failing to present Young with a copy of the search warrant, failing to notify a SWAT team supervisor about the raid, and allowing officers to handcuff Young while naked and keep her in that position for an extended period of time – even after it was clear that the officers were in the wrong home.
The board found Wolinski guilty of all those charges and ordered him fired from the Police Department. Five board members voted to fire Wolinski.
Three members of the Police Board dissented – agreeing that Wolinski failed in his duties as a supervisor and violated many Chicago Police Department rules and policies, but disagreeing that his conduct warranted dismissal. The dissenting members argued that Wolinski did not have control of the action, writing that he tried to deescalate a chaotic situation – but did not have the skills to do so.
Wolinski could challenge his firing by filing an appeal with the Circuit Court of Cook County, but experts say this is a step that is rarely taken.
Young received a $2.9 million settlement from the city in December 2021.
Her case spurred key search warrant reforms and policy changes within the Chicago Police Department – including a requirement for CPD to track wrong raids that result from faulty information, such as the raid on Young's home.
CBS 2's Joe Donlon talked with Young Thursday night about the termination of Sgt. Wolinski.
"I was just overwhelmed with tears, and grateful – because this is what I've always wanted from the very beginning. I've always felt like the officer being fired – or actually, I wanted all of them to be fired – but the officers being fired, I felt like, was the real accountability for me," Young said. "The takeaway I went through is that everything I went through… I'm satisfied today. I'm satisfied with the outcome."
Young did not want to talk about specifics as far as what she has done with the money from her settlement. But she has set up a foundation called I Am Her, providing scholarships for students who want to pursue careers in social work.