Chicago:
Anjanette Young Continues Her Fight

Mar 11, 2024

Anjanette Young, a 51-year-old Chicago social worker from the west side of the city, undressed to go to bed just before officers stormed inside her house with shining flashlights, demanding that she put her hands in the air and stay still or they would shoot.

She was forced to stand still, naked, in front of a dozen police officers, before she reacted and started screaming back at them, telling them that something was wrong. Handcuffed, she tried to tell them she was the only person in the house.

This took place on the evening of February 2019. Chicago police were executing a search warrant on her house. They used a battering ram to enter. They were looking for a man with a gun. Later they found out that the man had lived there 4 years before.

CPD was told by a confidential informant that the men they were looking for lived at Miss Young’s address. CPD didn’t bother to verify the information.

Later, Young sued the CPD and was paid 2.9 million dollars by the Chicago City Council. The Chicago Police Board agreed to fire Sergeant Alex Wolinki, who oversaw the operation that night.

All this took place under previous Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Four years later, Anjanette Young continues her fight to make the City Council pass an ordinance to change how CPD executes search warrants, including a ban on No-Knock Warrants.

Ms. Young hopes that current Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration will make the ordinance possible.

These types of incidents are standard practice in poor workers’ neighborhoods. It is well known that police don’t care about legal rules when they have an excuse to go after a suspected criminal. They just go inside people’s houses, harassing and mistreating anyone there.