City Of Chicago Has Brought In Outside Counsel In Anjanette Young Wrong Raid Case
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The City of Chicago is using your tax dollars to retain a private law firm in the case of Anjanette Young, the social worker who is suing the city after she was handcuffed naked in a botched police raid two years ago.
The City confirmed late Friday that it went outside the in-house Corporation Counsel's office to retain outside attorney Eileen Letts. She began representing the city in the case on March 3.
Young's attorney said last week that the City has yet to make a settlement offer in her case, and is delaying what could bring some closure to the incident that sparked national outcry.
In December of 2020, CBS 2 aired the damning body camera video that revealed the moments officers wrongly raided Anjanette Young's home, pointed guns at and handcuffed her. Young was undressing for bed and unclothed when officers burst in.
While the botched raid happened in February of 2019, prior to when Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office, the video was unearthed while she was mayor. It wasn't until the airing of the video more than a year later that Lightfoot promised to take steps to resolve the case.
"What I've directed my law department to do is, with respect to this one, if there is a pending case, get that case resolved," Lightfoot said on Dec. 15, one day after CBS 2 aired the video.
On Dec. 16, Lightfoot publicly apologized to Young at a news conference.
But months later, Young and her attorney, Keenan Saulter, said public statements made by Lightfoot and her law department contradict what's happened behind closed doors since then.
"As we sit here today, the City has offered Ms. Young zero dollars to resolve this case, still," Saulter said.
Young likened the city's handling of the case to how offers treated her the night of the raid. As she stood undressed and handcuffed, she told officers dozens of times they were in the wrong home, body camera video shows.
"I feel like I'm invisible to the Mayor and the city," Young recently said. "They continue to not see me, as anyone who deserves to be treated fairly, to receive justice, to be heard."
A statement last from the City's law department said Lightfoot "remains committed to continuing to address the actions surrounding any litigation in this matter to an equitable and expeditious resolution so that Ms. Young can continue her process of healing and move forward. The City has made clear to Attorney Saulter that it has no intentions of negotiating this matter in the press as it does a disservice to everyone involved.
"Weeks ago, the City provided Mr. Saulter with a fair and just pathway to resolution," the statement continued. "The City asked that Mediation be considered and offered to pay all associated costs and fees. Mr. Saulter stated he would not agree to Mediation absent conditions."
Saulter said that's true -- he has made previously multiple settlement demands, but won't agree to Mediation until the City first makes a settlement offer.
Young's lawsuit is among many that have been filed by dozens of families who CBS 2 found were wrongly raided by CPD, leaving taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars in potential settlements.