The Chicago City Council is set to vote on a $2.9 million settlement for Anjanette Young, a Black woman who sued the city and several police officers over a botched 2019 raid at her apartment.
Young, a social worker, was handcuffed while she was naked. She sobbed and told officers that they were at the wrong home, but she remained in handcuffs, according to a report from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
The City Council's Finance Committee unanimously approved the settlement Monday, the Chicago Tribune reported. It will move on to the full council's agenda for a vote Wednesday.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was "comfortable" with the settlement, the newspaper reported.
“I think it’s a good thing this matter is resolved,” she said at an unrelated news conference Monday.
The mayor's office and an attorney for Young could not immediately be reached for comment.
Young's first-floor apartment was raided in February 2019 after Officer Alain Aporongao obtained a search warrant using information from an anonymous source. The source told Aporongao that an acquaintance had brandished an illegal weapon at a home, the report stated.
The target of the search warrant, who had been arrested previously, had a home address listed at an apartment building across the street and slightly south of Young, the report said.
It said the officer had information listing the target's address but “disregarded all of this information and instead relied exclusively on J. Doe’s statements."
Neither Young nor her home were connected to the target or any other criminal activity, the police accountability office said.
Body camera video showed officers placing Young under arrest while she was naked. When she asked to see their warrant, she was ignored and was instead questioned about the target. She told police that she did not know the target, according to the report.
Officers covered up Young in a blanket before a female officer eventually escorted her to a bedroom so she could get dressed.
The police accountability office said officers realized about a minute after they entered the apartment that the target was not present and was not associated with Young's address — but that she remained handcuffed for about 17 minutes.
The report said many of the officers "violated applicable laws and policies," and it recommended various disciplinary actions.
Police Superintendent David Brown later called for Sgt. Alex Wolinski to be fired, saying in documents released by the city that Wolinski approved the warrant without adhering to the department's "Knock and Announce" rule, failed to intervene in the "disrespectful treatment" of Young and did not promptly present Young with a copy of the search warrant.
