Dart Apologizes To Couple For Mistaken Raid
CHICAGO (CBS) - Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has issued a public apology to an elderly Ukrainian immigrant couple whose Southwest Side home was the site of a mistaken weapon and drug raid by his police officers.
Dart said Monday he feels horrible about the Thursday night raid that terrified Andrij Jakymec, 89, and his wife, Anna, 84.
"We apologize. We felt horrible. Nobody likes it when you don't perform the way you should perform," Dart said before marching in the Columbus Day parade. "We talked to the family about making sure they were compensated appropriately. They've been very understanding. I can't thank them enough for it. But you obviously are not happy at all when these things occur. You feel horrible."
Andrij Jakymec was asleep and his wife was getting ready for bed when nearly two dozen heavily armed members of Dart's police department broke down the front and back doors of their home near Midway Airport late Thursday night. The couple says the officers were destroying furniture and screaming.
"They broke everything. Our garbage (was) knocked down, my garage; the window knocked, everything," Anna Jakymec told CBS 2. "They knocked at one door, second door."
Andrij Jakymec suffers from terminal cancer and Alzheimer's.
Their son, who arrived later, said that around midnight Thursday night, Cook County Sheriff's officers burst into the house.
"The screen door was yanked off with a crow bar, and then a ram was put through here," Andrew Jakymec said Thursday.
He said police tore apart everything looking for drugs. The son said the most potent drug in the home is aspirin. He estimates damage to the home at around $3,000.
The police had been given information the house belonged to a 23-year old drug dealer and that there was cocaine, crystal meth, money and drugs in the home.
He said "mistakes happen" sometimes when you rely on informants.
Dart is running for reelection as sheriff next month. He is also considering a run for mayor next year. Asked if there was any circumstance that would make him not run, he said, "I've been exploring all of them, and I have not come across any right now. No."
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
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