Politics

Judge Reverses Order, Says Rahm Emanuel Does Not Have to Testify About CPD’s ‘Code of Silence’

A federal judge reversed course Friday, ruling that former Mayor Rahm Emanuel does not have to testify about allegations that a “code of silence” among Chicago Police Department officers led to a botched August 2018 raid of a Back of the Yards apartment that violated the civil rights of a family with four children.

U.S District Court Judge John Tharp said that he reconsidered his decision to allow lawyers for Ebony Tate, her mother, Cynthia Eason, and four children to call Emanuel after lawyers for the city renewed their vigorous objections to having the former mayor and potential presidential candidate testify.

Allowing Emanuel to testify would make it impossible for the eight officers named in the lawsuit and the city to get a fair trial and turn it “into a media circus when he has nothing to do with the claims against them,” according to lawyers for the city of Chicago.

Emanuel acknowledged in December 2015 during an emotional speech prompted by the outrage over the police murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald before the Chicago City Council that a “code of silence” among officers had prevented officials from holding CPD officers accountable for misconduct.

A 2016 probe by the U.S. Department of Justice during the Obama administration found that “code of silence” allowed officers to act with impunity. That investigation led to the consent decree, the federal court order that requires CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.

Lawyers for Tate, Eason and the children are still allowed to introduce Emanuel’s statements, but the jury — set to be picked Monday — will not hear from the mayor.

Had Tharp not reversed course, Emanuel would have been the first former Chicago mayor to answer questions under oath in open court about allegations of police misconduct.

Lawyers for the city routinely oppose efforts by plaintiffs’ attorneys to force high-ranking former and current city officials to testify, since their sworn statements could expose the city to greater liability.

“The court’s ruling on this matter will have high potential ramifications beyond former Mayor Emanuel and this case,” lawyers for the city told Tharp.

Tharp’s decision to reverse course came after Emanuel hired former White House Counsel Ed Siskel to represent him. Siskel also served as the city’s top lawyer from February 2017 to May 2019.

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley was deposed in 2018 about his handling of allegations that former CPD Commander Jon Burge, and the detectives he trained, tortured and beat more than 100 Black men during his career. That deposition has never been released publicly.

High-Stakes Trial Set to Start Monday

The trial will decide whether CPD officers traumatized Tate, Eason and four children on Aug. 9, 2018, when a CPD SWAT team set off flashbang grenades outside her apartment before breaking down the door and repeatedly pointing assault rifles directly at the children.

Lawyers for Tate, Eason and the children —who were aged 13, 11, 8 and 4 — will try to prove to a jury that city officials knew officers were violating Chicagoans rights while serving search warrants and did nothing to stop them before the family’s rights were violated.

Eason, who was about to take a bath when officers conducted the raid, was forced to leave her home even though she was not fully dressed, according to the lawsuit.

“The Chicago police forced a 55-year-old grandmother to stand for an hour and fifteen minutes on the public street outside her home — in full view of her neighbors and the onlookers who had gathered to watch the dramatic events unfold — in nothing but a braless T-shirt and underwear,” according to the lawsuit. “Ms. Eason has never felt or been so humiliated in her life.”

During the raid “officers screamed and cursed loudly” in the children’s presence and “were rude, nasty and sarcastic,” according to the lawsuit.

Tate suffered a panic attack after being forced to leave her home during the search and was treated by paramedics at the scene, according to the lawsuit.

There is no body-worn camera footage of the raid, since officers assigned to SWAT teams were not required in 2018 to wear them, according to the lawsuit.

No drugs or weapons were recovered during the search, nor was anyone charged with a crime based on evidence discovered by the officers during the raid, records show.

The search warrant obtained by police to search the Tate and Eason apartment identified a man who did not, and had never, lived in the home, but lived nearby, according to the lawsuit.

Although officers were not authorized to enter the Tate and Eason apartment without announcing their presence, the lawsuit alleges officers used a pry bar to break down the apartment’s door without warning.

The search left the apartment in complete disarray and destroyed several of the children’s favorite toys, according to the lawsuit.

“Objects were strewn all over the surfaces and floors and sometimes left in large piles for plaintiffs’ to clean up,” according to the lawsuit. “It literally took plaintiffs weeks to clean up and recover from the physical mess and disorganization that officers wreaked.”

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the agency charged with investigating police misconduct, never determined whether officers violated CPD policy during the raid, according to documents obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.

None of the officers involved were disciplined.

There appeared to be a valid search warrant for Tate and Eason’s apartment, and an adult whose name is redacted “was acquainted with the subject of the search warrant,” according to the record closing the complaint opened after the lawsuit was filed.

The names of those who file complaints with the agency better known as COPA are kept confidential, under city ordinance.

Although the lawsuit prompted COPA to open a probe into the raid, neither Tate nor Eason through their attorney, Al Hofeld, agreed to sign the affidavit under oath that was required at the time to conduct an investigation, according to COPA’s records. The probe was closed in May 2020, records show.

The contract with the city’s largest police union approved by the City Council in 2021 removed the requirement for a signed affidavit before a probe could be opened.

Tate and Eason’s lawsuit names eight officers as responsible for traumatizing her family. Four officers have left the department, while three of the other officers were promoted to detective. The final officer named in the family’s lawsuit is now a sergeant, records show.

Chicago taxpayers paid private attorneys more than $592,000 to defend the officers through Sept. 9, according to records obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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