Anjanette Young, handcuffed naked by Chicago police, was awarded a $2.9 million settlement. Young was minding her business in her own home when officers from the Chicago Police Department burst into her house on Feb. 21, 2019.
Young had just gotten home from her job as a medical social worker and was undressing when she heard pounding at her front door. Before getting dressed, police entered her apartment with a battering ram.
The woman was nude in front of primarily male and white officers when she was handcuffed with her hands behind her back and left naked for several minutes until one officer tried to cover her with a jacket. She told the police officers 43 times that they were in the wrong house, and the coat still left her entire front exposed as she stood in front of several men. Finally, someone got her a blanket, but she couldn’t hold the blanket because she was handcuffed and was still exposed.
The police were looking for the person who lived in the apartment next door and wore an electronic ankle bracelet. Yet, the police entered Young’s apartment and seemingly did not believe her as she insisted she lived alone for several minutes while she stood naked and humiliated in front of the police officers.
Young said that it was a terrifying experience, and she was afraid for her life if she had made a wrong move.
“There were big guns,” said Young. “Guns with lights and scopes on them. And they were yelling at me, you know, put your hands up, put your hands up.”
Eventually, one officer went out to his patrol car and checked his notes. He confirmed that someone had made a mistake with the warrant. After going back inside to retrieve another officer, the two policemen went back outside and conversed with their video cameras turned off.
The Chicago Police Department initially refused to release the damning video until Young filed a Freedom of Information Act in 2020 requesting that the public be shown the footage. Still, the request was denied by the CPD. They were finally forced to release the footage by a court.
Young believes that the police didn’t want to release the footage because they knew how wrong they were and how the video made them look.
“I feel like they didn’t want us to have this video because they knew how bad it was,” said Young. “They knew they had done something wrong. They knew that the way they treated me was not right.”
The Chicago City Council voted unanimously to approve Young’s settlement. Mayor Lori Lightfoot apologized to Young and called the officer’s actions a “colossal mess.”
Young has suffered from PTSD, depression and lost her job due to the traumatic false arrest. None of the officers have been disciplined.
