Anjanette Young was a victim of a botched raid by the Chicago Police Department in 2019. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file
Sgt. Alex Wolinski is accused of violating a police rule that forbids “disrespect to or maltreatment of any person.”
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown wants to fire the sergeant who oversaw a raid on the wrong home that resulted in social worker Anganette Young being handcuffed while she was naked.
According to documents filed by Brown Tuesday with the Chicago Police Board, Sgt. Alex Wolinski allowed Young to remain in handcuffs while naked for an extended period of time, even after it had been established officers were at the wrong home during the 2019 raid.
One specific rule Wolinski is accused of violating is one that forbids “disrespect to or maltreatment of any person.”
Wolinski is scheduled to appear at a Dec. 3 virtual hearing before the police board, which will ultimately decide his fate.
Young was left handcuffed and naked for 40 minutes in a room full of male police officers.
To bolster his position that Wolinski should be terminated, Brown also pointed out that Wolinski didn’t adhere to the police department’s knock-and-announce rule before entering Young’s Near West Side home, failed to intervene in the disrespectful treatment of Young and failed to promptly present a search warrant, a task that took 15 minutes.
Wolinski also ignored requests from an officer at the scene to remove Young’s handcuffs and broke with department policy by failing to notify a SWAT supervisor before entering the home, according to the documents.
A sobbing Young can be seen on the bodycam video telling officers more than 40 times that they had the wrong house; eventually, one officer finally gave her a blanket to cover up.
Young was undressed and getting ready for bed at the time as the ordeal unfolded.
An unnamed informant gave police Young’s address, saying a man was illegally possessing a gun there. But when officers arrived, they found only Young, who repeatedly told the officers that she lives alone.
The head of the police union that represents sergeants couldn’t immediately be reached Wednesday for comment.
John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents rank-and-file officers, called Brown’s decision a “disgusting display of ‘leadership” on a Facebook post that was created Wednesday.
