Statement of the ACLU of Illinois:

“We are pleased to announce the successful resolution of Butler v. Staes, et al., a matter first filed in January 2020. We filed this case after our client Jaylan – an innocent college student returning from a swim meet on his team’s bus – was taken to the ground and had a gun held to his head by police officers. After reaching a settlement with two of the officers who directly interacted with Jaylan on that fateful evening, Jaylan has filed a stipulation to dismiss the remaining claims. 

We filed this case to seek accountability for Jaylan and to raise awareness of the degree to which traumatic police interactions harm individuals, even when the person harmed is able to walk away. We believe, and Jaylan concurs, that our actions to date have satisfied those goals. Now, Jaylan can put this matter behind him and continue his private life as a student, athlete, and young man. 

We are so pleased to have worked on this case, and to represent Jaylan as he pursued accountability for the actions taken against him by police officers. Jaylan was determined to ensure that his experience would not simply fly under the radar the way abusive police interactions with young Black men often do. Despite all of the challenges of the last year, Jaylan has remained committed to this quest for accountability – both for himself and for the wider community – and continues to seek to ensure that police officers treat young Black men like himself with dignity and respect.

We thank our co-counsel at Sidley Austin and all of those who have been part of the legal team supporting Jaylan. We also thank Jaylan‘s family for their support and partnership at every step in this process. We wish Jaylan the best of luck in the future and are pleased that this matter has been resolved in a positive fashion.”

Statement of Jaylan Butler:

“The memories of that night being pressed to the ground, with officers swearing at me and a gun pointed at my head, will remain with me forever. But I know that unlike other Black men who have been stopped and manhandled by police, I got to go home. For me, this lawsuit has always been about holding the officers accountable for their actions that night. I believe I have accomplished that goal. As a result, I am happy to dismiss the suit and move forward.

I want to thank all of the people from across the country who were supportive of me during this time. I value your well wishes and words of appreciation more than I can say.

The end of this lawsuit is not the end of the fight for police accountability. We must ensure that officers are held to account when they violate someone’s constitutional rights. This is an effort that I will continue to support for the rest of my life.”

The following statement can be attributed to Nusrat Choudhury, Legal Director, ACLU of Illinois:
 
“In a Friday afternoon media release, the Chicago Police Department today announced a new policy relating to police raids on the wrong homes. This widespread problem was brought into sharp relief by the video of the raid on the home of Anjanette Young, a Black social worker, who was held naked at gunpoint by numerous Chicago police officers.
 
We look forward to reviewing this policy in detail and to speaking with community allies from across the City to gather their input. But once again, the City failed to meaningfully engage with impacted communities in the process of creating this new policy. 
 
Black and brown residents across Chicago have been victims of wrong raids, and unnecessarily violent raids, for years. But the City’s principal means of engaging with these communities was to post this policy on the CPD online portal for written comments - not to meet with community organizations whose members have been impacted by wrong raids. Community voices deserve to be heard if CPD is truly committed to ensuring that no one is subjected to the humiliation and trauma that results when police break down doors to enter into homes and hold people, including children, at gunpoint.
 
Police reform is not simply checking a box after a horrific incident is exposed for public view by pushing through a new policy. It is hard work that begins with learning from affected communities where police have gone wrong.
 
The policy that CPD issued today was an opportunity to begin this healing. Once again, the city has failed to meet the moment.”

By Roxanne Smith, Communities United

Seventeen years ago, my son Seneca was shot six times by Chicago Police after being chased on foot. The police officers even fired upon and injured an innocent bystander after chasing Seneca into an occupied building.

In the wake of the shooting deaths of Adam Toledo and Anthony Alvarez, many in Chicago are calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to adopt a new foot chase policy. I have been waiting for nearly two decades for such a policy — as have other mothers who lost children to these chases. But mothers like myself, from many parts of the city, continue to wait.

In 2008, my younger son, who lives with Fragile X Syndrome, suffered a panic attack and needed medical attention while we were at church. As his mother, I wanted to get him medical help as soon as possible. So I called 911 seeking an ambulance with professionally-trained staff. Instead, six Chicago police officers arrived on the scene, threw my son to the ground, and handcuffed him.

They literally handcuffed my son for having a panic attack while Black. My son was terrified that the same thing that happened to Seneca would happen to him. To this day, he can recount every detail of this experience.  

These are just some of the policing experiences that I have witnessed and lived through as a Black person in Chicago. They led me to get involved in efforts to bring real change to Chicago policing. I have been proud to stand with Communities United and other community organizations that filed lawsuits against the Chicago Police Department for using excessive force against people of color and people with disabilities. Communities United joined a coalition of community groups that won the right to go to court to enforce a federal consent decree that requires Chicago police to limit excessive force, getting the bias out of policing, and taking other steps to bring policing in line with the Constitution and common sense.

But the sad truth is that the City of Chicago has failed to meet community groups at the table and be a willing partner. In fact, the City has missed more than half the deadlines contained in the consent decree — deadlines the City signed onto. But what matters more, what is alarming, is that the City is failing to listen to suggestions for reform that come from community members with lived experience. 

We cannot wait any longer. The time for change is now. And people across this City need this change now, as we suffer the repeated trauma from seeing Black and brown people being shot and killed by police, and seeing videos of police raids on the homes of Black and brown people, like what happened to Anjanette Young. I was horrified to see what happened to Ms. Young, the social worker who had police bust into her home and hold her naked and afraid in her own apartment. 

This is not a matter of trying to find out what the problems are. We know what is wrong with policing in Chicago. But what’s missing is a real desire by the City to do something about it.

The leadership for ending biased and violent policing in Chicago must come from Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The Mayor needs to bring communities together with police for real solutions. Until then, there will be more Black and brown people shot and killed by police or suffering from police raids on their homes.

I still believe that the consent decree process will work to change policing in Chicago. But this change will not happen on its own. The Mayor must show that she is willing to change police culture and end the Code of Silence that keeps officers from being held accountable when they harm people. She must directly engage with the communities involved in the consent decree process. And she must make good on her promises to dig in and make policing better, not just for those in white communities but those who live on the South and the West sides.

As a beginning, the Mayor needs to listen to people just like me who have lived experiences, often bad experiences, with the police. Those of us who have survived police violence have something valuable to contribute. But instead, the Mayor too often seems to believe that the answer to any problem is to hold another news conference and declare that she will fix the problem. Meanwhile, the harm goes on in our neighborhoods.

That is why we need Mayor Lori Lightfoot to join in the effort to fix policing in Chicago. It is not too late for her and for the government to actually listen to us. 

But it is getting later every day.

Roxanne Smith is a leader with Communities United.