Chicago Police Sgt. Involved In Botched Raid Of Social Worker’s Home Faces Termination
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown recommended the termination of an officer who was involved in the handcuffing of a Black woman naked during a 2019 botched raid of her apartment, NBC News reports.
Documents released by the City of Chicago on Tuesday (Nov. 9) accused Sgt. Alex Wolinski of approving a search warrant at Anjanette Young’s home without following the department's "Knock and Announce" rule. He is also accused of failing to intervene in the "disrespectful treatment" of Young and failing to promptly present her with a copy of the search warrant.
Further, he’s accused of keeping Young handcuffed and nude even after the officers knew that they raided the wrong apartment.
"Based on the foregoing charges and specifications, the Superintendent recommends that Sergeant Alex Wolinski be discharged from the Chicago Police Department," Brown wrote in the city documents.
Police bodycam footage showed what happened while Young, a clinical social worker, was in the privacy of her bedroom disrobing.
Officers used a battering ram to enter her apartment, looking for a suspected felon. The problem is that Young lives by herself and the officers mistakenly rammed down the wrong door in the wrong complex. Police were looking for a suspect considered dangerous and was given an erroneous account by an informant that the suspect lived in Young’s apartment.
“Before I knew it, there was a swarm of police officers. They had these big guns, long guns with scopes and lights… I thought they were going to shoot me,” she told CBS Chicago.
Young told the officers that they were in the wrong apartment, but they ignored her. It turns out the CPD did not verify that their suspect actually lived in the residence, which he did not, according to an investigation from CBS Chicago. It’s information that would have been easy to find because the suspect wore an electronic anklet that the police were tracking, the report said.
Eventually, they covered Young with a blanket. After 13 minutes into the ordeal, a female officer is seen entering and uncuffs Young. She escorts Young to her bedroom to put on clothes before she is placed in handcuffs again.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Law Department fought in court to block CBS Chicago from airing the body camera footage, which was evidence in a lawsuit that Young filed against the police department, according to The Chicago Tribune.
The day before Brown called for Wolinski’s termination, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) released its findings, NBC News reported.
COPA found nearly 100 allegations of misconduct among the 15 officers who had a hand in the botched raid.
It recommended that Wolinski and another sergeant be suspended for a year with the possibility of "separation from the department."
COPA concluded that the officer who obtained the search warrant, Officer Alain Aporongao, was “the most culpable for the harm” and urged a minimum suspension of 180 days with the possibility of “separation from the department.” Additionally, five other officers were recommended for suspensions of one to 60 days.
The Fraternal Order of Police in Chicago blasted Brown’s recommendation.
“Yet another example of why Superintendent Brown must go. Carrying the water for the mayor must be exhausting but he is getting as good as Mr Medals at it! What a disgusting display of ‘leadership.’” the police union wrote in a Facebook post.
