CHICAGO, IL– During the weekend of August 7th, widespread looting and civil unrest overpowered Chicago with 13 officers injured and over 100 people arrested. Now, Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants answers, and it sounds like she’s blaming Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx.
Lies from Kim Foxx.
Prosecutions are needed to stop looters. Chicago Trib reported in a story released this morning, the current State’s Attorney’s office “dropped all charges against 29.9% of felony defendants, a dramatic increase over her predecessor, the Tribune found.— Howard Tullman (@tullman) August 10, 2020
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown suggested that because so few defendants were faced with serious charges during the heavy looting that took place in late May and early June, many of them were back on the streets almost immediately, encouraging more of the same unruly behavior.
Brown said in a statement:
“Criminals took to the streets with confidence that there would be no consequences for their actions and I, for one, refuse to allow these cowardly acts to hold our city hostage. CPD will not stand by as our beautiful downtown becomes some place that people fear.”
People are live-streaming themselves looting in Chicago
Video via @LizJone26271417
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 10, 2020
Foxx, the state’s attorney took immediate offense to Lightfoot and Brown’s claims. She alleged that the small number of looters who faced charges after the destruction in late May and early June, is a “police problem” and that those her office chose to “release” without any charges, have not encouraged more looting.
She said in a statement:
“The notion that people believe they are somehow empowered because people weren’t prosecuted for looting back in the wake of the unrest beginning is simply not true. Those cases are coming to court now.”
She added:
“And what we have said to CPD and our other partner is bring us cases where people are committing those acts and we will pursue them.”
Yet, according to reports almost 300 defendants were charged with a felony back in early June, and most were “quickly” granted pre-trial release putting them back on the streets to cause more harm, destroy more property, and incite more violence.
Breaking #Looting in #Chicago. This at Block37 just outside of @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/H3fVpSqRTn
— Jeremy Ross (@JeremyAdamRoss) August 10, 2020
Patrick O’Brien, the Republican candidate challenging Foxx this coming November, also weighed in on the situation.
He said:
“How surprising is it when you encourage crime and don’t have any consequences for it that it continues to happen?”
Mayor Lightfoot slammed looters and rioters who destroyed downtown Chicago over the weekend, calling the events an “assault on our city” and telling the criminals, “we are coming for you.”
Disappointed and angered she said:
“We are waking up in shock this morning. These individuals engaged in what can only described as brazen and extensive criminal looting and destruction and to be clear, this had nothing to do with legitimate, protected First Amendment expression.”
She added:
“We are not going to let our city be taken over by criminals and vigilantes.”
As CPD became aware of the looting and vandalizing they also came across several social media posts encouraging the looting downtown. According to Brown, the department dispatched roughly 400 officers to respond to the chaotic scene.
Chaos in Chicago last night as mass looting broke out after police officers returned fire on a suspect that reportedly shot at them
pic.twitter.com/T5YWLPfNtj— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 10, 2020
Mayor Lightfoot is calling upon court officials and the state’s attorney to make sure people who are, or who will be arrested, are held accountable this time.
She said:
“To those who engaged in this criminal behavior, let’s be clear: we are coming for you. We are already at work in finding you and we intend to hold you accountable for your actions. There is no justification for criminal behavior, ever.”
She added:
“You have no right, no right to take and destroy the property of others. This is not anywhere near acceptable.”
What we experienced this morning is not who we are.
We cannot let the actions of some destroy the fabric of our city and who we are as proud Chicagoans. pic.twitter.com/zK0acm1M1B
— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) August 11, 2020
Brown said that the department is creating a “special team” of investigator tasked with scouring the hours of camera footage obtained overnight, and has asked members of the public who took videos to share those with police.
A spokeswoman for Foxx said that assistant state attorneys are working with Chicago police to review the video from August 10th’s looting to identify and arrest those involved.
Mayor Lightfoot, as well as Superintendent Brown, believe that the looting and civil unrest that took place on Magnificent Mile was triggered by misinformation from an officer-involved non-fatal shooting that took place in Englewood on August 9th.
[embedded content]After the officer-involved shooting incident, many residents across the city were outraged because it was believed that a Chicago police officer had shot an unarmed, black teenage boy. This was not the case at all, but by the time the correct information found its way, the incorrect information had spread like wildfire.
CBS2 investigators found several examples of people erroneously tweeting out that the victim was a 15-year-old boy and that he had been shot as many as 15 times. Then, these tweets were shared and retweeted by thousands of followers online.
The more this incorrect information was shared, the worse the looting, vandalizing, and destruction of property on Magnificent Mile got. Stores were trashed, items were stolen, anti-police graffiti was found in different spots, and caravans and u-hauls were seen pulling up to stores as looters filled them with merchandise.
The reality of the situation was that the suspect was fleeing on foot and while police pursued him, he turned around, unprovoked and shot at the officers. The suspect was 20-years-old, and he was armed. In addition, he has a history of committing crimes and being arrested.
Here is another article from Law Enforcement Today about the violence and crime spike in Chicago and how Mayor Lightfoot finally accepts help from the federal governemnt:
CHICAGO, IL – The media was recently abuzz with news that Chicago’s democrat mayor, Lori Lightfoot, has accepted President Donald Trump’s assistance in reducing the recent violence in the nation’s third largest city.
This must be difficult for the first term mayor to swallow considering she ran her whole platform on reducing violence in the city, starting with relabeling gun violence as a health crisis.
She would be focusing on police reform and has recently compared federal law enforcement officers to terrorists.
She had stated:
“Police departments since the start of the history of this country, have been used to enforce unconstitutional laws that were designed to discriminate against communities of color and particularly African Americans…people don’t have trust in our police department [and] they don’t view the police department as legitimate.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreed to let feds into Chicago. So this is the scene outside her house tonight.
— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) July 24, 2020
She said she will now “demand” assistance from the federal government to help stop the flow of guns coming in from other states.
During her campaign, she had said:
“That’s something that the federal government is uniquely qualified to do and they’ve abdicated their responsibility.”
When Lightfoot took office, she filled her administration with experts that claim they are renowned for police reform and community-based violence prevention programs, which earned approval from anti-violence activists.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1286054696097062914
Mayor Lightfoot was incredibly vocal regarding her disapproval for her predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, who was mayor from 2011 – 2019. She claimed he didn’t do enough to protect the citizens of Chicago. He had weak policies and unsuccessful community-based social programs.
Mayor Lightfoot didn’t think Emanuel knew what the community needed.
Apparently, they share that in common, because the people of Chicago have been asking for federal assistance in their city for years.
Residents begged former President Barack Obama to send federal law enforcement to help fight the brutal violence at ground level for his entire presidency, which went ignored. As is often the war cry for Democrats, Obama felt that all Chicago needed to make Chicago safer were stricter gun control laws.
“Perhaps if Obama had done his job… Chicago wouldn’t look like a third world country right now.”https://t.co/SIlat3B3di
— LawEnforcementToday (@LawEnforceToday) July 25, 2020
We see how well that has worked out thus far.
On May 23, Mayor Lightfoot accepted President Trump’s offer to bring in Federal Law Enforcement Officials to help fight the recent increase in violent crimes that spiked at the onset of the Black Lives Matter “protests.”
These protests have forced police to decrease their patrols and scale back proactive policing at the insistence of politicians.
However, if Mayor Lightfoot views federal law enforcement officers as terrorists, then why the sudden change of heart towards President Trump’s offer of support?
Is it because since the Black Lives Matter protests began in May, Chicago has seen a 50% increase in homicides and over 400 people have lost their lives? Or is it because others have decided to take matters into their own hands and be the leader Chicago truly needs?
President Trump’s call to Lightfoot was not just happenstance.
On July 18th, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara asked Trump for help control the surge in violent crime. Catanzara’s letter states that Mayor Lightfoot has been a “complete failure” at controlling the cities violent crime epidemic and he would like to meet with the President to “discuss how to bring back civility” to the streets of Chicago.”
Mayor Lightfoot Chastises Police For Asking Trump to Help ‘Bring Back Civility To The Streets Of Chicago’ https://t.co/1kzySU1ger
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 25, 2020
Although Catanzara never formally asked for assistance, it’s clear that there needed to be an intervention of sorts in the Windy City.
The communication between President Trump and Catanzara, who is the spokesman for the Chicago Police Department Union, embarrassed Lightfoot and she lashed out like a petulant child.
Lightfoot said:
“In the middle of everything that is going on, in a craven political move, this man [Catanzara] waved his hand to President Trump and invited him to bring federal troops into our city, a la Portland.
“We have tried to engage him in a constructive way. He refuses to do so because he’s more interested in trying to make himself a political figure.”
She must not understand that when you vilify your law enforcement and are looking to support reform and defunding of the department, that doesn’t scream “constructive engagement.”
Fraternal Order of Police president says ‘childish’ Chicago mayor is ‘running the Titanic into an iceberg intentionally’ https://t.co/XDr3d3n7D5
— Thomas Paine (@Thomas1774Paine) July 25, 2020
After Mayor Lightfoot’s less than truthful comments on constructive engagement, she stooped to petty namecalling and bullying that is not becoming of a person with her title and position.
She lashed out at Catanzara via text message calling him a cartoon character, a clown, irrelevant, desparate, and a total fraud.
She stands by her characterization of the FOP President.
She claims requesting Trump’s support was cowardly:
“How is that responsible? How does that make sense? What he should be doing is focusing on things that [are] actually important to his members.”
He is, Madam Mayor. Maybe you should also focus on the things that are important to your community members. You know, like not being murdered.
Meanwhile, activists are doing everything they can to “protect” rioters from federal officers.
This past Thursday, several activist groups including Black Lives Matter have filed paperwork in federal court.
Their hope is to prevent federal law enforcement from interfering with protests that have been ongoing in Chicago and across the country since the death of George Floyd back in May. Then in July, Trump signed an executive order that would prevent the destruction of federal property and monuments across the country.
This month, the president dispatched federal officers to Portland, Oregon to stop protesters who were damaging federal buildings.
A day after President Trump announced that over 200 federal officers will swarm into Chicago, representatives of the city’s Black Lives Matter chapter and affiliated movements have filed a lawsuit to prevent the coming crackdown https://t.co/Z3aIPoJItO
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 23, 2020
According to ABC 7 Chicago:
“A collection of Chicago activist groups want a judge to block federal agents sent to the city to combat violent crime by President Donald Trump from interfering in or policing protests, arguing in a lawsuit filed Thursday that that the surge will inhibit residents’ ability to hold demonstrations.
“The suit names Attorney General William Barr along with the heads of other federal agencies whose agents are part of the surge plan announced at the White House on Wednesday.”
The “surge” plan mentioned is Trumps new initiative to combat violence in cities across the US.
On Wednesday President Donald Trump held a press conference to announce a new anti-crime initiative or surge plan to combat violence in several major cities including Chicago. The Presidents announcement comes a day after 15 people were shot in front of a funeral home.
As ABC 7 Chicago reported:
“Trump blamed deadly policies and deadly politicians as responsible for out-of-control crime in numerous U.S. cities.”
CHICAGO — Black Lives Matter is filing a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department, Fraternal Order of Police and the federal government. Nearly 100 people gathered together in Federal Plaza Thursday to make that announcement. https://t.co/87nT3OjLS1
— Officer🌟Sharon (@officersharon) July 23, 2020
The president also reported a staggering statistic for The Windy City:
‘”At least 414 people have been murdered in the city this year. A roughly 50% increase over last year’”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot reportedly spoke to President Trump about his intentions to send the feds to her city.
A statement released by Lightfoot’s Office said:
“‘The President reached out to Mayor Lightfoot this evening to confirm that he plans to send federal resources to Chicago to supplement ongoing federal investigations pertaining to violent crime. The conversation was brief and straightforward.
“Mayor Lightfoot maintains that all resources will be investigatory in nature and be coordinated through the U.S. Attorney’s office. The Mayor has made clear that if there is any deviation from what has been announced, we will pursue all available legal options to protect Chicagoans.’”
These groups filing a suit against Trump and his staff are looking for assurances that this supplement of federal manpower isn’t going to interfere with protests. People that have been peacefully protesting have not been subject to arrest, or really any kind of interference, from law enforcement.
#Chicago residents should file a class action lawsuit against this lunatic. https://t.co/6ueN0ZYkhk
— F3 Tactical (@F3Tactical) July 22, 2020
Violent agitators, looters and people destroying property, however, are attracting much attention of law enforcement.
So who are groups like Black Lives Matter really trying to protect?
Last weekend in Chicago, 18 police officers were injured while protecting a statue of Christopher Columbus in Grant Park.
According to CBS News Chicago, the protest began as a “defund the police” protest at Buckingham Fountain and then headed south towards Grant Park. As more people joined the protest and arrived at Grant Park, the crowd turned on the police began hurling objects at the police while trying to overrun them.
CBS News said:
“Police say 14 people were arrested and could face charges including battery of a police officer and mob action.”
WTTW News Chicago released CPD video of the protest and it shows an unruly mob storming into the park and then hurling objects at officers as they do their best to hold their positions while being easily outnumbered.
[embedded content]The events of last weekend in Grant Park are carbon copies of protests around the country. They are not peaceful and they are only growing more violent as the weeks go on. The line between protester and domestic terrorist have been blurred for weeks now.
So rather than ask their members to keep their protesters peaceful, all of these organizations have doubled down and filed a suit to keep the destruction going all under the guise of the First Amendment.
This is being done while continuing to vilify the police and anyone else who attempts to get in their way.
—
Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.
