anjanette young

Anjanette Young Agrees to Meet With Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Lawyer Says

At Sunday's demonstration, local leaders and politicians called for full transparency into the wrongful raid on a Chicago social worker's home

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A social worker who was handcuffed naked as Chicago police mistakenly raided her home in 2019 has agreed to meet with Mayor Lori Lightfoot this week "to start the healing process," her attorney said.

Anjanette Young asked to meet privately with Lightfoot Wednesday at the Progressive Baptist Church, where she is a member, according to her attorney's office Saulter Law P.C.

Lightfoot said Monday that she is hopeful she and Young will be able to meet, but that "details are being worked out."

Lightfoot had requested to meet in-person with Young earlier this month as she apologized for the "colossal mess" created during the city's handling of the case.

"It left me upset, angry, appalled as a human being and as a Black woman," Lightfoot said at the time. "And I immediately put myself in Miss Young's place and I know that this could happen to me, it could happen to any other Black or Brown person not in Chicago, but elsewhere."

The raid came to light in recent days after a video was published, which showed a handcuffed Young standing naked in her home for several minutes. Young is heard in the video telling officers that they are in the wrong home, and she and her attorney confirm that her home was not the target of the search warrant.

Video of the incident was later obtained by Young as part of a lawsuit against the city, and was obtained by several Chicago news outlets, including NBC 5.

In the fallout from the raid, Chicago's top attorney resigned, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced an independent investigation, and the 12 officers were placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

Several Chicago aldermen had reportedly requested the Inspector General look into the city's handling of Young's case.

In a letter to the Chicago City Council last week, Lightfoot said her office will fully cooperate with any investigation by the Inspector General’s office, and said she hired a former federal judge to conduct a full investigation into the city’s response to the botched raid.

Young's attorney said she has also invited Lightfoot, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, and each of the city's aldermen to a forum "to allow Ms. Young through her counsel to address the issues surrounding Ms. Young's case in further detail."

The forum would also take place at the same church Wednesday afternoon, though it was not immediately clear if any of the invited parties had agreed to attend.

Lightfoot said she had some "concerns" about the idea, citing coronavirus restrictions and "legal considerations."

"I'm not going to do anything inconsistent with public health guidance," she said.

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