Chicago River Bridges Have Not Been Raised, Contrary To Some Reports On Twitter
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Contrary to claims on Twitter, the City of Chicago has not raised downtown bridges out of worries about civil unrest stemming from the release of the Adam Toledo police shooting video.
Multiple tweets before the video was released Thursday afternoon claimed the bridges across the Chicago River had already been raised.
Heads up everyone: @chicagosmayor raised the bridges in downtown Chicago after she viewed the CPD murder of 13-year-old #AdamToledo.????????
— MassUpdater (@MassUpdater) April 15, 2021
The video has NOT been released to the public, yet. But the video will be released today!!!
The bridges are already up!????????♂️????#DefundThePolice https://t.co/MFl4lsXJ0L
I have been tweeting on my sfw account about this today, but I just wanted to let people here know that Chicago is releasing the footage of a police officer killing a 13 year old boy today and they have already raised the bridges downtown in anticipation of the public's response.
— Ms Capricorn ???? (@mistress_cap) April 15, 2021
In fact, no Chicago River bridges were up on Thursday afternoon. The Chicago Department of Transportation did announce Wednesday that the Lake Shore Drive bridge would close and be raised for seven hours beginning at 10 p.m. Friday, but said it was part of a maintenance run that happens every spring.
The DuSable Bridge across Michigan Avenue was closed overnight for the same reason back on April 1.
Still, some speculated that the Lake Shore Drive bridge closure was a preemptive move in anticipation of possible civil unrest over the release of the Adam Toledo police shooting video.
Chicago River bridges were raised during unrest and looting downtown following protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police last May, and again after a round of looting downtown, along the Magnificent Mile, and in other areas in August.
In February, the Chicago Office of the Inspector General said raising the bridges during civil unrest on May 30 brought difficulty for the Chicago Department of Transportation – in part because the regular spring bridge raisings that happen every spring and fall did not happen in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The city has taken action in the event of possible civil unrest, including staging salt trucks as potential barriers and canceling days off for some Chicago Police units. Some stores and buildings have also preemptively boarded up.