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Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined that the five officers collectively committed 47 violations of departmental rules designed to protect the rights of Chicagoans during two traffic stops and should be suspended for a total of 91 days, records show.
In all, Chicago taxpayers have spent $101.8 million since 2019 to resolve lawsuits brought by 26 people who were injured or on behalf of those killed during police pursuits, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
The Chicago City Council unanimously agreed Wednesday to pay $27 million to the family of a Chicago woman killed by a driver being chased by Chicago police, the latest massive settlement prompted by a police pursuit that violated department policy and ended with a bystander’s death.
In the early morning hours of July 6, Massey called 911 to report a prowler outside her home, setting in motion events that left Massey dying on her kitchen floor and former Sangamon County Deputy Sean Grayson facing charges of first-degree murder.
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The proposed policy “impermissibly allows officers to use race, ethnicity, and other protected characteristics when making decisions on whether to stop, frisk or search people, in violation of federal and state law,” according to the coalition led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
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A Chicago Police Department spokesperson told WTTW News in a statement the department does not “utilize quotas” for traffic stops.
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James Gibson said he implicated himself in a 1989 double murder after being burned, punched, kicked and slapped by Chicago Police detectives supervised by disgraced former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge during a three-day interrogation.
In all, the settlements approved Wednesday account for nearly half of the city’s annual $82 million budget to cover the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.
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Convicted in 2006, Ben Baker spent 10 years in prison before he was released in 2016, three years after former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts was convicted of taking bribes.
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The independent monitoring teams for Chicago's police consent decree include former police brass who have previously been involved in consent decrees and reform efforts across the country. Despite their professional credentials, some members have documented histories of misconduct that might complicate the long-running effort.
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U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said she would convene hearings before expanding the consent decree to include traffic stops.
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Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability President Anthony Driver, Jr., said he had no doubt that he was stopped because he is a 6-foot-3-inch Black man who weighs more than 200 pounds and wears his hair in dreadlocks.
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That agreement must be approved by the Chicago City Council by Feb. 10, according to a joint filing from the lawyers representing the city and Reed’s mother, Nicole Banks. That indicates the settlement agreement calls for Chicago taxpayers to pay Reed’s family more than $100,000.
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Chicago police agreed to judicial oversight in 2019. Since then, a series of mayors and police chiefs let efforts languish and no one in a position of oversight has pushed forcefully to keep the process on track, WTTW News and ProPublica found.
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“I must remind you that the consent decree is not optional,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul wrote to Mayor Brandon Johnson. “The City of Chicago must deliver on its consent decree obligations.”
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A letter sent to police officials from COPA on March 27, six days after Reed’s death, shows that the agency had evidence that officers were routinely engaging in misconduct that violated Chicago Police Department rules and put Chicagoans at risk of a violent encounter with officers for at least a year. 
 

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