Politics
4 Months Into the Year, Chicago Has Spent at Least $175.6M to Resolve Police Misconduct Lawsuits
Just four months into the year, Chicago has spent more than $175.6 million to resolve approximately 200 lawsuits alleging Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
The city’s 2026 budget set aside just $82.5 million for police misconduct settlements, and authorized officials to borrow an additional $283.3 million to cover the soaring cost of lawsuits alleging wrongdoing by police officers, records show.
Wrongful convictions have long been the most expensive kind of police misconduct in Chicago, and that is set to continue in 2026, records show.
The latest massive settlement, unanimously approved Wednesday by the City Council, will pay $9.5 million to Carl Reed, who spent 19 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of murdering a man in a North Side assisted living facility.
Taxpayers paid an additional $483,200 to defend the police officers who sent Reed to prison, including former Chicago Police Detective Richard Zuley, who was later found to have lied “in police reports and to his supervisors, physically abusing suspects and omitting exculpatory evidence from police reports,” according to court records.
Among the payments included in 2026’s tally is the $45 million paid in January to partially resolve lawsuits filed by 180 Chicagoans who spent a combined nearly 200 years in prison. They were wrongfully convicted based on what they allege was fabricated evidence gathered by former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, who was convicted in 2013 of taking bribes, and other officers.
The city has also agreed to pay an additional $45 million before the end of the year to close the books on those lawsuits, records show.
Included in the 2026 tally is the $32.4 million taxpayers paid to two men to resolve wrongful conviction lawsuits settled by the City Council in late 2025, records show.
WTTW News’ analysis also includes the $16.1 million the City Council agreed to pay last year to settle four lawsuits, but has yet to be paid, records show.
In all, Chicago taxpayers are already on the hook to pay more than $106.5 million to resolve dozens of lawsuits triggered by wrongful convictions in 2026, records show.
Taxpayers will pay an additional $40.6 million to resolve four lawsuits sparked by botched police pursuits, the second most costly kind of police misconduct. The city’s insurance will pay an additional $9 million to settle those lawsuits, records show.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
