Mayor Lightfoot issued a statement Friday regarding the City’s Legal Department’s actions in the incident involving Chicago Police and Anjanette Young. Young was the victim of a botched attempt to execute a search warrant. After ramming her door down and charging in her home, Young was handcuff naked and questioned for 15 minutes before officers allowed her to put her clothes on. Once clothed they continued questioning her until they realized they were at the wrong address. Young was never a suspect. The Mayor Lightfoot’s legal team sought to block CBS2 Chicago’s request for the bodycam footage and to seek sanctions against Anjanette Young and her attorney, Keenan Saulter.
“Today, at my direction, the Corporation Counsel filed a supplemental motion with the court to make a few things clear. First, the action sought against the CBS2 news station that was filed by the City’s Law Department was a mistake, and I’ve instructed them to formally withdraw our request to the court so that the record reflects this even though it was previously ruled upon. I want to be explicit that at no time did the City ever seek sanctions against Ms. Young and, to remove any doubt, we specifically affirm that no such sanctions were ever sought against her. Moreover, at my direction, the Corporation Counsel will formally move to withdraw sanctions against Attorney Saulter. While we remain concerned that a violation of a court order may have occurred, I believe that we should give Attorney Saulter the benefit of the doubt that he did not appreciate that the court’s confidentiality order continued in full force and effect, even after the voluntary dismissal of the case in March 2020. We urge the court to take no action against Attorney Saulter. I again want to reiterate and affirm my commitment to righting the wrongs in this case and moving forward with full transparency and accountability.”
The city’s top lawyer, Mark Flessner, resigned in an email to employees on Sunday over the Anjanette Young incident. The controversial incident is troubling for Mayor Lightfoot, who ran a campaign on transparency and accountability in the wake of the Laquan McDonald murder. Initially stating she was unaware of the incident until the CBS2 Chicago aired the footage, Mayor Lightfoot backtracked stating she was made aware of the incident in 2019.
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