Mayor Lightfoot Meets For First Time With Anjanette Young, Who Was Handcuffed Naked In Botched Police Raid
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday met with Anjanette Young, the woman who was handcuffed naked during a botched raid by Chicago Police.
CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov first reported on the meeting, which was kept very quiet. It was not publicized at all, and took place 24 hours after the initial meeting between the mayor and Young had been set to occur.
Neither Young nor Mayor Lightfoot were available for any comments post-meeting. Instead, Young's attorney, Keenan Saulter, and the Mayor's office released a joint statement:
"Today we met and had a lengthy, very candid and productive conversation about the unacceptable raid on Ms. Young's house and her pain. We also discussed a number of systemic changes necessary to address the wrongs done not only to Ms. Young, but also to other victims.
"We both acknowledge that today's conversation, was but a step towards Ms. Young's healing.
"Today's conversation was not a resolution to the problematic issues that both parties acknowledge exist—which led to the events of February 21, 2019 at Ms. Young's home.
"However, there could be no resolution without first engaging in a substantive conversation. We are both committed to continuing to identify areas of common ground relating to these issues and to working towards necessary policy changes together."
This comes days after a planned meeting between Young and the mayor was canceled – resulting in a backlash directed at the mayor.
On Sunday, Saulter sent a letter to Lightfoot, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, and seven aldermen, proposing a private meeting with the mayor at Young's church, Progressive Baptist in Armour Square, at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday - followed by a public forum with the mayor, the aldermen, and Brown. Saulter later invited all 50 aldermen to attend the public forum.
But on Monday afternoon, Mayor Lightfoot began expressing reservations. The mayor expressed concerns about the invitation for a public forum with all 50 aldermen, pointing not only to the pandemic, but possible issues with the state's Open Meetings Act.
The meeting came 17 days after our story aired showing police body cam video of the wrongful raid of Young's house, and two weeks after the mayor apologized to Young at a news conference. That apology came with promises of search warrant policy changes.
The meeting also came a day after City Hall released 150 pages of emails and documents about the Young case, including what the mayor was told and when.
In an email on Nov. 11, 2019, a top aide wrote: "Mayor, please see below for a pretty bad wrongful raid coming out tomorrow. Media FOIA was denied and victim FOIA request in thee works and to be released to her tomorrow within the deadline period."
The mayor's direct response half an hour later was: "I have a lot of questions about this one. Can we do a quick call about it?"
Subsequent emails suggest that call occurred. But on Dec. 17 of this year, the mayor said: "I don't have any contemporaneous recollection of this."
The emails also raise questions about the lengths to which City Hall and the Police Department were willing to go to keep Young's case under wraps.
In another November 2019 email, a mayoral staffer wrote," Good to send denial letter to CBS." In another, CPD Risk Manager Michele Morris wrote to the city's Chief Risk Officer Tamika Puckett, "So much for them forgetting about it" – with "them" being CBS 2.
That was Morris' response to learning the CBS 2 Investigators were about to air a follow-up to the pattern of wrongful police raids, and learning the CBS Evening News was going to air it too.
Morris did an interview with CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini around the same time – often appearing dismissive.
"It has not currently been contemplated, but it might be in the future," Morris said in her February 2020 response when asked if Chicago Police might begin tracking raids at wrong addresses.
Police Supt. David Brown also released documents on Wednesday. Both he and the mayor said it is a step toward the goal of transparency, but some aldermen with whom Kozlov spoke on Thursday were not convinced.
City Hall has not yet released all the emails mentioning Young's case. Mayor Lightfoot's statement on Wednesday indicated it was a preliminary release, and there are more to come.
City Hall insiders said further releases could shine and even harsher light on what the mayor and her staff knew and didn't know.
Kozlov asked Saulter on Thursday if Young still planned to proceed with her lawsuit against the city. Saulter would not comment.
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