Chicago police shown lounging during protests
Took break in burglarized office of congressman
CHICAGO – Late one night two weeks ago, a group of Chicago police officers put up their feet and lounged in the burglarized office of a U.S. congressman, preparing popcorn and coffee for themselves and napping on the couch.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., announced in a media conference Thursday that several officers were caught on videotape in his campaign office on the South Side.
The office had been burglarized amid looting earlier in the day, and the videotape of the officers picked up around 1 a.m. June 1. About 13 officers were lounging in the office, including three supervisors and 10 other officers, for four or five hours, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
“They even had the unmitigated gall to go and make coffee for themselves and pop popcorn, my popcorn, in my microwave, while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight, within their reach,” Rush said. “They did not care about what was happening to business people, to this city. They didn’t care. They absolutely didn’t care.”
One officer was asleep on a couch in the office. Another had his head down on a desk. Rush said the officers were “violating (his) personal space.”
The images of the lounging cops have gone viral. Several Chicagoans began using them as their social media cover and profile photos.
Lightfoot said the officers were “having a little hangout for themselves while small businesses on the South Side were looted and burned, while their colleagues were getting bottles thrown at their heads.”
The incident took place a few days after George Floyd died as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide demonstrations over racial inequities and police brutality. Some protests were marred by violence initially, but most were peaceful.
Fraternal Order of Police union President John Catanzara says the looting at a shopping center was over by the time officers arrived. He accused Lightfoot of staging a “Hollywood production” to push a political agenda that includes licensing of all police officers in Illinois.
“It’s disgusting that they would challenge the honor of those (officers) that were in the office that night, as if they would stand there and let people die,” he said.
Nodding to Chicago’s history of delaying the release of video evidence, as in the case of the police murder of Laquan McDonald, Lightfoot showed several stills of the video at the media conference. Lightfoot said Rush first showed her the video Wednesday.
“The officers in this incident, and others we’ve seen in the past weeks, have demonstrated a total disregard for their colleagues, for the badge and for those they’re sworn to serve and protect,” Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot said officials would investigate the incident and look into whether the officers committed a crime.
The city’s new police superintendent, David Brown, also apologized to Rush on behalf of the city. Brown said the officers would be held accountable.
“If you sleep during a riot, what do you do on a regular shift?” Brown said. “What makes you comfortable enough that a supervisor won’t hold you accountable? Supervisors ... need to step up or step out. I’m not playing.”
Lightfoot said that “not one of these officers will be allowed to hide behind the badge and act like nothing ever happened.”
First Deputy Superintendent of Police Anthony Riccio called the officers’ actions “completely indefensible.”
Asked whether the officers should be fired, Lightfoot said “the strongest action that we can take should be taken, particularly with the supervisors.”
Officials said that almost every store surrounding the congressman’s office had been looted. That same weekend, 17 people were murdered in Chicago, Lightfoot said, but it was not immediately clear whether the violence happened near the area in question.
Asked why it took so long for the incident to come to light, Rush said that his youngest sister had died at the University of Chicago Hospital the same day he was alerted to the video.
“My family and I had to take some time to process all of that. That was the priority for my family and for myself,” Rush said.
Chicago has witnessed a series of police misconduct issues in recent weeks. Last week, one officer who gave protesters the middle finger was stripped of his police powers, and two others were relieved of their powers after cellphone video showed officers dragging two people out of a car, one of whom says an officer pressed his knee into her neck.