A still image from a Chicago Police Department body camera video shows a police raid at the home of Anjanette Young in February 2019. (WTTW News via Ja’Mal Green)
A Cook County judge upheld the decision by the Chicago Police Board to fire the sergeant who led the botched February 2019 raid that left Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked inside her home, records show.
The Police Board voted 5-3 in June 2023 to terminate Sgt. Alex Wolinski, finding that he committed multiple rule violations and a “failure of leadership … so serious as to be incompatible with continued service.”
Wolinski sued the city to overturn that decision, but Cook County Judge David Atkins found that his termination was “neither arbitrary nor unreasonable.”
Tim Biasiello, Wolinski’s attorney, could not be immediately reached for comment. Wolinski could appeal Atkins’ decision.
Wolinski was the sergeant in charge of the raid, which included 12 officers.
Wolinski “failed to allow a handcuffed Ms. Young to get dressed for 10 minutes despite her requests and the requests of some of his officers,” Atkins wrote in his ruling, released Oct. 31. “She was not shown or read the search warrant for approximately 20 minutes.”
The Police Board found Wolinski guilty of more than a half-dozen rule violations — including law violations, disobedience of an order, inattention to duty and “disrespect to or maltreatment of any person” — which it deemed “extremely serious.”
A probe of the raid by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability found evidence that nearly a dozen officers committed nearly 100 acts of misconduct during the search of Young’s home.
The Chicago City Council paid Young $2.9 million in December 2021 to resolve the lawsuit she filed against the city, alleging that her civil rights were violated.
Matt Masterson contributed to this report.
