Anjanette Young has been trying to get the Chicago police to account for the damage she suffered during a botched raid for nearly two years, during which officers broke down her door with a battering ram, handcuffed her, and turned her home over. Young, who was naked, just stepped out of the shower when police showed up, told the police repeatedly that they had the wrong home.
On Tuesday, CBS2 Chicago released a bodycam video of the raid that Young, who recently acquired the footage as part of an ongoing legal battle with CPD, shared with the news station.
The video shows Young shocked in the middle of her living room, standing naked, as police burst through her home on February 21, 2019, just after 7 pm.
Young told CBS Chicago, “It was so traumatic to hear the thing that was hitting the door.” She said, “it happened so fast, I didn’t have time to put on clothes.”
Young was handcuffed and exposed as she stood and watched the officers search her home. One officer covered her shoulders with a short coat, which left her front exposed and all under her upper back. Another officer put a blanket on her because her hands were cuffed behind her back, and it kept falling.
A distraught Young repeatedly asked officers, 43 times, why they were in her apartment, insisting that they entered the wrong home. She begged them, over and over again, to let her put her clothes on.
She told officers, “I’ve been living here for four years, and nobody lives here but me.”
“I’m telling you this is wrong,” she continued. “I have nothing to do with whoever this person is you are looking for.”
Young told CBS2 that “it felt like forever,” after being exposed for 13 minutes. A female officer finally took Young back to her bedroom to get some clothes to put on. However, once she was clothed, police handcuffed her again.
Later, CBS2 verified that the agency had yet to take responsibility for their mistake.
According to CBS2, police officers were looking for a 23-year-old felon who allegedly had a weapon and ammunition in his possession. The CPD executed the raid off the informant’s tip, but they were given the wrong address. The unit that the police wanted to raid was next door to Young, who had no relation to the perpetrator.
Snippets of conversation between officers during the raid in Young’s home hint at this:
In one clip, officers in a squad car reviewed their notes and can be heard talking. CPD wouldn’t comment when CBS 2 asked what the conversation meant.
“It wasn’t initially approved or some crap,” one officer said.
“What does that mean?” the second officer asked.
“I have no idea,” the first officer said. “I mean, they told him it was approved, then I guess that person messed up on their end.”
A sergeant at the home of Young could be seen asking the affiant cop — to step outside to have a conversation after it became apparent that there were no guns in the apartment, as CBS 2 describes.
The officer turned the body camera off when they stepped to the side to chat.
It wasn’t until 20 minutes later that police barged through her door that the handcuffs were actually taken from Young’s wrists by the police.
“I do apologize for bothering you tonight,” the sergeant told her. “I assure you that the city will be in contact with you tomorrow.”
CBS2 points out that the whole situation could’ve been avoided. Police should’ve vetted the informant’s tip and verified the suspect’s whereabouts by tracking the electronic monitoring device he was wearing. However, whatever the police reasons for raiding the wrong, Young has to live with the repercussions.
“That piece of paper gives them the right to, you know, that says you can do X, Y, Z based on what’s on that paper,” Young said. “So if you get it wrong, you are taking 100 percent control of someone else’s life and treating them in a bad way.”
As of late last month, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) said it was still investigating the 2019 raid.
Young has joined several other Chicago families that have filed lawsuits against CPD for conducting these harrowing raids in the wrong homes. Those affected by botched home raids are disproportionately Black and Latino households.
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