
Anjanette Young at a press conference. (PHOTO: Twitter)
Afterward, the family planned to file a federal lawsuit against the city, which cited: “trespassing, assault, battery, excessive force, false imprisonment, conducting an unlawful search of the Mendez family home, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” Additionally, the warrant that police used to raid the Mendez home allegedly had a neighbor’s name on it, and even after Hester Mendez told them they had the wrong house, they still continued to search.
This would be repeated with Anjanette Young two years later.
They were acting on botched information from a confidential informant that led them to Young’s house. However, according to NBC News, Young had no connection to the suspect. “After a prolonged and dehumanizing period of time for Young, police apparently realized their mistake. A sergeant offered an apology and the police left, attempting to fix her door on the way out,” wrote Emmanuel Andre, community defense attorney and restorative justice practitioner at Northside Transformative Law Center.
When news of this incident broke, people were outraged by what happened, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Yet, according to CBS Chicago, Lightfoot’s staff told her that Young’s and “other raids were brought to her attention in November of 2019.”
After that, some began drawing parallels to the infamous Laquan McDonald case with former mayor Rahm Emanuel. In this case, Emanuel’s office was accused of covering up the dashcam footage that showed Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald sixteen times. This led to the protest chant, “16 shots and a cover up!”
Not only did the officers have the wrong house and act on bad information, but they raided Young’s home while she was naked, which humiliated her. In a year where Breonna Taylor’s death reminded us about the lack of humanity Black women face, this is a grim repetition of similar circumstances.
Police also had the wrong home in Taylor’s case, so Young’s situation could have been fatal. Moreover, instead of acknowledging the wrongdoing, the CPD acted to suppress the information from coming out, knowing the controversy it would stir.
For these reasons, abolitionists are calling for the defunding and abolishment of police. When protecting and serving comes with terms and conditions, what other choice is there? ~ℝ