Chicago Police Says He Wouldn’t Have Arrested Jussie Smollett if Actor Apologized

A Chicago police chief is coming forward about Jussie Smollett‘s staged hate crime hoax and how he wanted him to simply apologize.

Eddie Johnson, the Chicago Police Department Chief in 2019, told “Morning in America” the full story about wanting the actor to apologize.

He said, “I want people to understand this. This was not the most heinous crime of the century. He didn’t kill anybody. He didn’t blow up a building.”

Johnson continues, “We would have been more than happy with just an apology at the end of all that we uncovered but for some reason, he just wanted to keep going down this road that he was actually a victim.” Smollett was found guilty on five felony charges last week after staging a racial and homophobic attack in 2019.

Johnson admits he knew Smollett was lying. According to The New York Post, “the former top cop said a video showing the actor with a noose hanging around his neck at his home, long after the crime was committed, was the first red flag.”

Johnson says, “I have to be honest, when I first saw the video of him in his apartment with the noose around his neck I was concerned because I don’t think there’s many black people in America with a noose around their neck and wouldn’t immediately take it off.”

By the time the police arrived, Smollett had the noose still around his neck.

In Smollett’s claims, he says he was walking home from a sandwich shop at the time of the attack, but his sandwich was in perfect shape at his home. Johnson said that the unhinged Subway tuna sandwich was still with the actor after the beating.

“When people get attacked like that, whatever belongings they have out there, they usually leave it until the police can go back with them because they’re afraid.” Johnson said that was the tipping point for police officials that something was off.

However, Johnson still wanted to treat Smollett like a “victim” until the evidence was undeniable. Once he arrested brothers, Abimbola and Abel Osundairo, they admitted that Smollett paid them for the hoax. It all started making sense to Johnson.

The City of Chicago still plans to pursue the 130k lawsuit for recovering costs.