Mayor Lori Lightfoot just announced she'll have a press conference with the Chicago Police Department's Supt. David Brown and Rep. Bobby Rush at 1 p.m.
I'll live tweet it.
Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.
A recent story: blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/09/chi…
I'll live tweet it.
Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.
A recent story: blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/09/chi…
The Mayor's Office said they'll be making an announcement, but didn't say what that will be.
You can watch here. The press conference will start soon.
Lightfoot: Yesterday, Rep. Bobby Rush told her something that "shocked me, shocked my team and that, frankly, enraged us."
Rush: "I want to thank the congressman for being here and for his incredibly generosity in this moment. We haven't always agreed on every issue, but today, we are in total alignment in our righteous anger and our steadfast determination, and I want to make sure that's very ...
"clear. What I know of Congressman Rush is this: He has committed his life to calling out and fighting against injustice and this presents exactly one of those moments."
Lightfoot: "We're gonna seize this moment and move forward aggressively in partnership with you and the thousands of others across this city who are demanding justice ... ."
Rush: "... Some two years ago, I did not give this mayor the benefit of the doubt. Today, I stand here without any doubt, any doubt, any doubt in my heart, in my mind and in my spirit that she is absolutely committed to the wellbeing of all Chicagoans, bar none."
Rush: "This is the era of Lori Lightfoot, and I intend to do all that I can within all my capabilities to make this era of Lori Lightfoot the absolutely best era that this city has seen."
Lightfoot is wiping away tears as Rush speaks.
Rush: "Two weeks ago, on a Sunday ... evening, early Monday morning, I got a call that my campaign offices at 65th and South Wentworth had been burglarized. And that my (?) had a videotape of eight or more police officers lounging in my office as, what I assumed, looters were ...
"looting in stores in the shopping center where my office is located at. We looked at the videotape and we saw eight or more police officers, including three whiteshirts, in repose, relaxing ... . They had their feet up on the desk. One was asleep on my couch in my campaign ...
"office. One had his head down on the desk. One was on his cellphone. They even had the unmitigated gall to go and make coffee for themselves and some popcorn — my popcorn — in my microwave while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight, within their reach. ...
"They were in a mode of relaxation and they did not care about what was happening to businesspeople, to this city. They didn't care. They absolutely didn't care."
Rush: He asked Ald. Dowell to contact Lightfoot and tell her Rush had the video. "I am so amazed, so thankful, that [within 4 hours], the mayor was on the phone, calling me, asking me could I come down to City Hall. I told her that I had some obligation at my church."
Rush: Last night, at 7:30, he went to City Hall. The mayor and Supt. Brown were waiting for him. "She wanted to view this videotape. I was absolutely — I am absolutely amazed at her response, how she takes it personally."
Rush: "That these police officers while on duty, in uniform, ... how they took such a lackadaisical attitude, a noncaring attitude, violating my personal space while looting was occurring all around them. They didn't care."
Rush: "Our mayor cared. She did care. And I'm so glad to be here this afternoon, standing with a mayor who cares."
Lightfoot: "Let me lead by apologizing to you again, on behalf of our city, that you and your office were treated with such profound disrespect. That's a personal embarrassment to me. And I'm sorry that you and your staff even had to deal with this incredible indignity."
Lightfoot: "Of course, when a Black man dies in the street with a white police officer's knee on his neck, it is murder. But it's also profoundly unjust. And we can have no tolerance for that ever, and people are rightly outraged. But equally unacceptable is when there is ...
"looting and brazen criminal conduct, also unjust. And it really is the height of injustice when police are deployed, given a mission and they fail to act. That, too, is injustice. Public safety cannot be a commodity that is only available to the wealthy and connected. ...
"When you swear an oath to serve and protect, you are a Chicago Police officer, not a police officer for only certain neighborhoods and only at certain times. That is not how it is or will ever be in our city."
A screenshot of officers in Rush's office. 
Lightfoot: "As a Black woman, we are often told, 'Don't show your rage. Don't let them paint you as another angry Black woman. Don't scold. Don't curse. Keep it together. Be respectable and presentable. Now, my life in this country has forced me to be angry and determined to ...
"be a fighter. All my life, I have fought with every fiber of my being to survive in a world that was built to throw flaming roadblocks in our way as Black people. I am working every day to instill that fight and that determination in my Black daughter and show her that even, ...
"yes, we have a responsibility to live our full and authentic lives even in the face of these deeply engrained and innately violent systems of racism. And if we're angry, let's not shrink from that. Let's use our anger to get results. And what I'm also feeling in this moment ...
"is incredible resolve. I do have a range of emotions as I stand here; but, mostly, I'm done. We cannot go on like this anymore. We don't paint all police officers with a broad brush; that would be wrong. And I spent a lot of time and a lot of time being criticized for it for ...
"praising their officers for their hard work, for their restraint, for the de-escalation in the vast majority of cases in the last weeks of unrest and protests. Those men and women are the heroes and they have served the city honorably and they represent the badge proudly. But...
"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 were sworn to serve and protect. And these officers will be held accountable. This will be investigated ...
"thoroughly. ... These officers and the supervisors will be identified and they will be held to account. ... Not one of these officers will be allowed to hide behind the badge and go on and act like nothing ever happened. Not anymore. Not in my city, not in your city."
The city is showing images of the officers in Rush's office.
Lightfoot: "What they show, regrettably, is that these individuals were lounging in a congressman's office, 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 and doing everything they could to protect these communities. And perhaps what is most harmful about this is that for so many people on the South and the West side, the actions of these officers, the deplorable lack of responsibility to do their job at a time when the ...
"city and their fellow officers needed them most, their conduct will confirm the perception that too many people on the South and the West side were left to fend for themselves, that police don't care that Black and Brown communities were looted and burned."
"These individuals did, indeed, abandon their responsibilities and their obligation and their oath to serve and protect. We should all be disgusted, and we should all feel hurt and betrayed in this moment of all moments."
Lightfoot: The police union "has been holding back the necessary change and reform" the city needs to make police accountable. "Now is the time to act on licensing for police officers once and for all. I'm here to tell you today that I have directed my legal team to do the ...
"research and to draft the legislation. I am ready, I am ready, to work with the governor and our great partners in Springfield to forge a change in state law to require licensing and certification in policing."
Lightfoot: "You're not serving or protecting anybody when you're shouting a derogatory slur ... . You're not serving or protecting when you pull people out of their cars by their hair and you beat the daylight out of them on the street. You're no serving or protecting when you...
"make movie popcorn and put up your feet and lounge" while your fellow officers are down the street, being beaten. "Today, yes, we are angry, but we're also resolved. and we are committed. And we may not be perfect in all of our efforts from this moment forward. But we're ...
"seizing on this moment to finally make the changes that many thought were too politically sensitive or infeasible or too big or too bold. The time for excuses is over. Our people are impatient, and rightfully so."
Supt. Brown: "... The behavior reflects leadership. Always. It's a hard truth to take when you're a leader, that you're responsible for the behavior of others. And we had an exchange about consequences for this type of behavior that we've seen not just what happened at the ...
"congressman's office, but the other behavior: officer giving the finger, homophobic slurs, excessive force. That behavior reflects our leadership. Officers asleep during a riot with supervisors in tow reflects our leadership. A few commanders I had to cut off because they ...
"began talking about us being too harsh and when they said 'us,' I said, 'You mean me being too harsh by relieving officers of their police powers?' My rebuttal was, 'It's time for you to stop talking.' ... The integrity of the Chicago Police Department is far more important ...
"than any individual officer's friendship with you or family relationship with you. Our integrity to the residents of Chicago is our No. 1, 2 and 3 priority. That we are in a seminal moment, that we have to reveal our leadership.
"If that means strict discipline, that's what ...
"If that means strict discipline, that's what ...
"it means. We are determined."
Brown: "Move or get out of the way, but we are going to uphold the nobility of this profession. ... We will be accountable to the Chicagoans that deserve a department they can be proud of. That this conduct is not representative; but if it's not, let's do something about it."
Brown: "Let's now be the good cops that hold the bad cops accountable by rooting them out of this profession. Period. No question mark. No gray area."
Brown: "If you sleep during a riot, what are you doing during a regular shift when there's no riot? ... What makes you comfortable enough a supervisor won't hold you accountable?"
Brown: "Need to step up or step out. I'm not playing."
First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio: "This is indefensible. ... I'll share with you a story: So, I was out there, as was Chief Wahler, as was the rest of the department. The same time these 13 officers were popping popcorn, taking a nap, relaxing inside this office, I was ...
"standing shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other officers on State Street as we got pelted with rocks from rioters. I was hit in the leg. The officer standing next to me ... was hit in the head, hit in the helmet ... . And that's occurring at the same time while these ...
"guys are inside having popcorn and making a pot of coffee. It is completely indefensible. ... There was a commander out there with me, the commander of the 24th District; she had lost her helmet when she was engaged with some of the protesters. And she stood there, with no ...
"helmet, no face protection, as they were throwing rocks at her and I finally had to tell her to go behind a protective barrier ... . I had to pull her off the line and put her in a protected area. That's all going on the same time these 13 guys are making popcorn, taking a ...
"nap on a couch and drinking a pot of coffee. ... They didn't just let down the citizens of the city; they didn't just let down the people of that community — and they did," they also let down their fellow officers.
Chief Fred Waller: "I've never been as embarrassed as I am right now. ... To say I'm angry, disgusted, doesn't really begin to express how I feel. I have never seen anything like this in my 34 years. These officers did nothing to help their fellow officers. They did nothing to...
"help these citizens. I know that mall. I've known the congressman. Did nothing to help anyone in those instances. Stood by and just did nothing. Their supervisors should be even held to a higher, and will be held to a higher standard."
Waller: "We cannot allow this attitude to exist in this department. We cannot allow the good works" of officers to be "smeared." But this must be addressed.
Waller: "This cannot be pushed aside. It cannot be handled gently. They let the entire city and the department down."
Lightfoot clarifying the story: "The looting in that particular plaza started, I believe, much earlier in the day, late morning at the latest. It carried on throughout the day. ... The videotape, I believe, picks up at about 1 a.m. And my understanding is that the officers ...
"were there four or five hours, possibly longer. You'll see, when we're able to get the video fully downloaded and processed, that they came in and out. It was a small core group, initially, and then at its height it was 13 officers. Three whiteshirts, supervisors, and 10 ...
"other officers."
This was early June 1.
They're trying to determine identities and ranks of the officers.
This was early June 1.
They're trying to determine identities and ranks of the officers.
Lightfoot: "There's been tentative identifications. ... Don't make us come find you. Come in. Identify yourselves. But we will find you."
Lightfoot: "Clearly, I believe that they tarnished the badge. Everything the command staff members have said — I asked last night, when we were all assembled, looking at these pictures and videos, is there anything that could even be remotely defensible here? And to a person, ...
"each one said no. Looting was going on, buildings were being burned, officers were on the front lines truly taking a beating with rocks and bottles and pipes and these guys were lounging in a congressman's office ... . The utter contempt and disrespect on so many levels is ...
"almost hard to fathom. ... It's almost inconceivable in the middle of what was going on ... where looting continued 'til Monday morning, having started Saturday night, it's inconceivable. Look at this guy. Sleeping on a congressman's couch. Popping popcorn. You can see one of...
"the popcorn bags right there."
Lightfoot when asked if they should be fired: "I believe that we should take the strongest possible action. We don't know the details. Still very much young. But the strongest possible action that we can take should be taken, and particularly, ...
Lightfoot when asked if they should be fired: "I believe that we should take the strongest possible action. We don't know the details. Still very much young. But the strongest possible action that we can take should be taken, and particularly, ...
"particularly, with the supervisors. ... These officers clearly felt like they were untouchable, that there would be no accountability. And why not when the bosses, the whiteshirts, are in the room with them? We got a problem that we have to solve."
Lightfoot: They're not sure what district the officers were from.
Lightfoot on if they could have committed a crime: "That's a question we're asking." They'll ensure the State's Attorney's Office and more scrutinize this.
Ald. Pat Dowell: "This was a total dereliction of their duty, and with the looting that occurred in this mall — literally almost every single store was looted from health centers to credit unions to retail stores to a liquor store — we are appalled when we see this. Because ...
"our expectation is that the police are there to serve and protect. And in this case, sitting on your butt, eating popcorn, drinking coffee and laying around doesn't do the community any good."
Ald. Chris Taliaferro: "I agree with every single word that was said today. ... This motto of 'we serve and protect' means nothing, absolutely nothing, to them."
Taliaferro: "We rely on just service. And when we can't get it, this is what happens. The mayor didn't mention that there were deaths, quite a few deaths, over the weekend. And I would hate to see that a death occurred in that area where these officers felt it was more ...
"important for them to take a nap, that it was more important for them to eat a bag of popcorn or that it was more important for them to get a cup of coffee."
Taliaferro: "The purpose of a Police Department in our society is still the same. ... It's the techniques that's being used to perform those principle functions that's what's changed over the years. ...
"Our Police Department has to get back to understanding what the core principles of policing means."
Lightfoot: "I think what happened is they were simply trying to take stock of what happened and, really, this was a campaign office. My understanding is they'd been shut down after the primary. Congressman's staff had dutifully been out there multiple times that day, saw it ...
"was broken into but, of course, never would have conceived what they ended up seeing. When they did look at the video and saw looters, but then saw what we now know, that's when they decided to act."
Rush: His youngest sister died that very day. "And so, my family and I had to take some time to process all of that. That was the priority for my family and for myself. So, that is the primary reason that" there was a delay in sharing the video.
Rush: "I just want to tell all the citizens of this great city: Line up behind this mayor. Stand behind our mayor. She has the right stuff. She will make a difference in this city, and she needs our absolute commitment to work with her to right the tremendous wrongs that have ...
"existed in this city for decades with the Police Department at the forefront of that."
Lightfoot: "I expect a significant amount of opposition from police unions. But I think we're at a moment where the things we felt were possible ... where we have the opportunity to make this happen."
Lightfoot: "Even where it may be difficult, if it's right and righteous, we must act. ... I think there's far more we will do. ... One of the things that continuously troubles me is thinking about Jon Burge. Jon Burge was fired by the Police Board in 1993. Jon Burge caused ...
"immeasurable harm to so many people. Even if you calculated the dollars, the city's probably spent about $2 million and counting relating to Jon Burge and his 'midnight crew.' He was prosecuted and found guilty by Pat Fitzgerald's U.S. Attorney's Office ... ." He got out of ...
prison and lived for years. "Every minute he enjoyed his police pension. There's nothing right about that. That's offensive. So we've got to address that issue, as well."
Lightfoot: "This issue of defunding the police, when I hear that is people rightfully offended by the fact that we have not invested enough in communities. ... We have to bring resources and investments to neighborhoods and communities that have been without an ounce of ...
"investment for decades. ... I am committed to making sure that we change that history so that we are investing and answering the cry and the plea of this moment. And I'm committed to doing that. I don't believe that we can survive as a city without making these kinds of ...
"critical investments. I also know ... on that same Sunday where the looting was happening, 17 people were murdered in our city. 17 people. I know that we have open air drug markets where they're unbelievable lucrative — $30,000 in cash a day, and they will shoot and kill ...
"anybody to keep that territory. We need to have this discussion, but we need to have it in the full context and understanding of the time we're in."
Lightfoot: "There will be a reckoning for the FOP. And I think that moment is now."
Brown on FOP pres saying the union will kick out officers who kneel in uniform: There are far more important things going on now and he doesn't know why FOP would comment on that. "It's not as important as [what] we're dealing with, and I won't dignify it with an answer."
Lightfoot on vid of CTA employee slamming someone: "I saw it. It's incredibly disturbing, to say the least, both the physical conduct of somebody who looks like they are a CTA employee, the words that were spoken. I can tell you that President Carter of the CTA is very well ...
"aware of it. There's an active investigation ongoing to identify the person who looks like a CTA employee and really understand the circumstances in which that happened. ... We don't know exactly ... even when it happened. It looks like it may have been recently. The CTA is ...
"actively working to understand the circumstances, identify the ... the employee. ... I'm confident President Carter will take the right action in addressing that employee's conduct, which is clearly unacceptable."
