A Little Village woman who says she witnessed the fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo believes the newly released body camera video supports what she saw that night from her second-floor apartment window — the boy was unarmed and complying with the officer when he was shot.

Margarita Gomez had told the Sun-Times earlier this month how she watched the fatal event from her living room window, insisting even then that Adam was turning around, with his arms raised, when the officer fired.

She dreaded watching the video after it was released Thursday but needed to confirm that what she had seen that night was real. When a Sun-Times reporter showed her the video for the first time, she choked back tears.

“I feel angry. I feel sad and heartbroken. That boy’s life was stolen from him by that officer,” Gomez said. “Even if the kid had a gun and tossed it, you still shot him with no gun in his hands while he is following your orders.”

On March 29, Gomez said, she was up late binge-watching “Vikings” on Hulu in her second-floor apartment when she heard about half a dozen gunshots. She ran to her living room window to see what was going on.

“From my window in my apartment you can see everything in that alley since it overlooks this wooden fence,” Gomez said at the time. “And that alley is lit up pretty good.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Within a minute, she said, she saw two people enter the alley from the gangway of a building. A police cruiser arrived from the north end of the alley and officers jumped out and grabbed a man, later identified by police as 21-year-old Ruben Roman Jr.

At this point, she said, Adam took off south on the alley toward 24th Street and the officer began chasing him and shouting at him to stop running.

“All I heard was the police officer telling him ‘Hold or I’ll shoot’ and the person was turning around while putting his hands up and the officer shot him,” Gomez said at the time. “He shot him one time — at least, I heard one gunshot.”

The fence alongside Farragut Career Academy’s parking lot has a large gap where several slats are missing, allowing Gomez to see into the alley from her living room. That’s where she said she saw Adam fall after he was shot.

She showed a Sun-Times reporter and photographer the view from her living room window, pointing to the spot in the alley near the 2400 block of South Spaulding.

Several days after the shooting, a police detective visited her home to interview her and her family about what they saw that night.

“I let the detective into my home and he asks us a few questions, then he goes to my living room window and says ‘You can’t see s— from here, how can you see over the fence?'” Gomez said Thursday.

“I don’t care what the cops say. I know what I saw and I’m telling you that boy was shot without a gun in his hand.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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I watched the video several times of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Little Village, and I doubt the video will change any minds.

Those who blame Black and Latino youth for the city’s rise in crime will see a policeman who was doing the dangerous work of getting illegal guns off the street.

They will say: “The police officer was doing his job. See. There was no foot on the boy’s neck like what happened in the George Floyd case. There were no 16 shots like in the Laquan McDonald case. There was no chokehold like in the Eric Garner case. If the boy had not run away, he would be alive today.”

And those who think police officers unfairly harass Black and Latino youth will look at Adam’s bloodied body and point to the gentle way Kenosha police handled 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse.

Rittenhouse, a white teen, carried a high-powered rifle in plain sight, in the midst of a protest last year without one police officer confronting him–even as bystanders warned them the teen had just shot three people, two of them fatally.

While Adam went to the morgue, Rittenhouse was allowed to go home to his mother.

Frankly, the bodycam video that shows an unidentified Chicago police officer pursuing Adam down an alley, and fatally shooting him, raised more questions than it answered.

It also shows why there should be no rush to judgment on either side.

For one thing, while it looked like the teen might have had a gun when he was running away from the police officer, I didn’t see a gun in either hand when the fatal shot was fired.

Did he drop the weapon or throw it away during the chase? When the police officer shouted: “Stop, stop right f***** now,” and Adam didn’t stop, did that give the police officer the right to discharge his weapon?

And when the officer yelled “Show me your f****** hands,” and Adam turned toward him with both hands visible, should that have ended the confrontation?

These are questions that the Civilian Office of Police Accountability will have to answer, and why there has to be a thorough investigation.

A couple of hours before the video’s release, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, became emotional talking about what she called the systemic failures that led to the deadly confrontation between the boy and a police officer in a dark alley in the middle of the night.

“We have to do more,” she kept saying–more to get rid of “too many damn guns” on our streets, and more to help children who have been traumatized.

“They experience that every day, every day. We’ve got to do things differently,” the mayor said as she pleaded with the city to remain calm after the video’s release.

The video likely did not give Adam’s family the answers they were looking for, but I hope it gave them some comfort knowing police and paramedics on the scene tried to save him.

“Stay with me. Look at me. Come on big guy, stay with me,” they said as paramedics worked in vain to keep him alive.

The video was heartbreaking.

In this place, at this time, it should not have come to this.

.

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The Sky selected Shyla Heal with the eighth overall pick in the WNBA Draft, shocking many in the process.

But Sky coach James Wade thinks Heal was a steal.

“She’s a true point guard that we’ve been looking at for a long time,” Wade said. “She didn’t have the eyes on her like the [players in the] NCAA tournament, but she did a lot of damage playing in Australia.”

Heal, a 19-year-old guard from Australia, is one of the youngest players in this year’s draft class but plays like an experienced veteran. It’s a quality Wade credits to the fact she’s been playing professional basketball since she was 16.

The Sky’s new guard had an impressive WNBL season last year with the Townsville Fire leading the team to the grand final against Liz Cambage’s Southside Flyers. She averaged 16.7 points per game, 3.4 assists and 4.8 rebounds. Her assist-to-turnover ratio was 1.3, in line with top point guards in this draft class, Aari McDonald and Dana Evans.

Wade said he knows the WNBA is a big jump, but because of Heal’s experience, he’s confident she’ll quickly find her stride.

“She’s a professional,” Wade said. “She acts like a 25-year-old or 26-year-old. Normally players in the league come in and don’t get it right away; they have to see. She’s been doing it since she was 16.”

She’s a player that can space the floor, is great at the pick and roll game and can match the Sky’s fast-paced style of play. She shot 31% from the three-point range last season but most impressive, Wade said, is her basketball IQ.

She’s coming into an ideal situation with Courtney Vandersloot as her mentor. Because both are thinking point guards, Wade believes she’s the best player to learn from Vandersloot.

Ultimately, Heal will be tasked with running the Sky’s second unit. Most importantly, she needs to maintain Vandersloot’s productivity. The Sky’s offensive rating was 110.6 with Vandersloot on the court last season and fell to 81.6 with her on the bench.

Heal’s father, Shane, played for the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 1996/97 season, but he’s better known for his decorated career with the Australian National Team and the NBL. He famously went head-to-head with Charles Barkley during warmups at the Olympic games in 1996.

Heal carries that same toughness her father played with.

“If you watch her games in Australia, she plays with a chip on her shoulder,” Wade said.

Coming off a disappointing 2020 season that saw the Sky leaving the bubble after a first-round loss to the Sun, Wade stressed the importance of improving on defense. The Sky’s 102.7 defensive rating last year was sixth in the league. They upgraded that end of the court when they signed the reigning defensive player of the year, WNBA Champion and two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker.

With one season separating Wade and several players on his roster becoming unrestricted free agents in 2022, the Sky need to capitalize on the roster they have now in pursuit of the franchise’s first WNBA Championship. Heal can help them do that.

Early in the night, a league source told the Sun-Times the Sky weighed several trade options that included Gabby Williams. Ultimately, they ended up keeping their eighth overall pick.

Still, Williams committed to play for the French National Team Thursday morning and will not be with the Sky to start the 2021 season. It’s unclear how that will impact her season with the Sky. The team will know more before training camp begins at the end of April.

Northwestern guard, Lindsey Pulliam was listed going to the Sky with the 16th overall pick on multiple mock drafts. Ultimately, Chicago selected forward Natasha Mack out of Oklahoma State. Pulliam was taken 27th overall by the Atlanta Dream.

With limited cap space, Wade said it’s going to be an interesting training camp.

“They’re going to come in and battle,” Wade said.

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A police watchdog agency Thursday released a video showing a Chicago police officer shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo, whose seemingly empty hands were raised — but who appeared to have a gun in his hand just a moment earlier.

The officer who shot Adam was wearing a body camera that shows him chasing the teen down an alley in Little Village at about 2:38 a.m. on March 29. The officer orders him to stop and show his hands.

A slow-motion version of the video from that body camera shows Adam standing sideways in a large gap in a wooden fence with what looks like a gun in one of his hands behind his back. The officer is on the other side of the alley. He yells, “Drop it!”

In less than a second, Adam raises his hands as the officer fires.

Adam crumples to the ground, and the officer calls for an ambulance and performs CPR.

The officer’s video doesn’t show Adam throwing away a gun, and the boy doesn’t appear to be holding a weapon in his raised hands.

But another video shows him apparently throwing something through a gap in the fence to the other side — and a video shows an officer discovering a handgun there.

After the shooting, the officer asks, “You alright? Where you shot?” and then “stay with me” and starts doing chest compressions on Adam.

Another officer’s body-camera video shows 21-year-old Ruben Roman, the man who was with Adam that morning, on the ground in the alley and getting handcuffed.

The Chicago Police Department gave reporters an advance look at the video and other surveillance videos from the neighborhood before the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released them to the public Thursday afternoon. One version of the officer’s body-camera video was played in slow motion.

Adeena Weiss Ortiz, an attorney for the Toledo family, said they’re exploring legal action against the officer who shot Adam.

“If you’re shooting an unarmed child with his arms in the air, it’s an assassination,” Ortiz said.

Asked about the slowed-down video of the shooting, she acknowledged Adam appeared to have something that “could be a gun,” but said the video must be independently analyzed to know for sure.

“It’s not relevant because he tossed the gun,” she said. “If he had a gun, he tossed it.”

Adam’s family is calling for peace, she added, because they don’t want to “compound this tragedy, inflaming emotions or inciting violence,” she said.

John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the officer was justified.

“He was 100% right,” Catanzara said. “The offender still turned with a gun in his hand. This occurred in eight-tenths of a second.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on Thursday called for a “complete and transparent” investigation.

“The video released today shows that police shot Adam Toledo even though his hands were raised in the air,” said Colleen Connell, executive director of the ACLU of Illinois.

“The people of Chicago deserve answers about the events surrounding this tragic interaction,” she said, adding, “The anger and frustration expressed by many in viewing the video is understandable and cannot be ignored.”

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which reviews police shootings to determine if they comply with police policy and state law, hasn’t issued any findings in the case.

Adam’s mother, Elizabeth Toledo, had viewed the video Monday at the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. She asked the agency to withhold the video from the public, but the agency said it was legally obligated to release it.

Toledo didn’t talk to reporters after seeing the video, but a lawyer for the family said the experience was “difficult and heartbreaking.”

An hour before the video was released Thursday, the Rev. Ramiro Rodriguez of Amor De Dios United Methodist Church at 2356 S. Sawyer Ave. was mowing the lawn around a memorial for Adam. When he saw the video, he thought of his own kids.

“They grew up here ,and it’s thanks to God they didn’t have any problems,” he said in Spanish. “But now I have grandchildren who are growing up and they come to visit me happily and I don’t want anyone to do that to them. It would break my heart.”

As a vehicle drove by blasting “F–k the police” by rap group NWA, 69-year-old Francisco Herrera of Berwyn choked up when he remembered the time his own child was shot by police in Cicero.

“As a dad, I’ve lived through this. It’s really hard,” Herrera said.

The 34-year-old officer who shot Adam joined the force in 2015, according to police sources.

The Invisible Institute’s website, which tracks police discipline, shows three complaints against the officer, alleging improper searches. One case was deemed unfounded, another was closed with “no finding” and a third is pending, according to the website.

The officer is a recipient of the superintendent’s award of tactical excellence and 47 other commendations, and he has a military background. The Sun-Times isn’t naming him because he isn’t officially accused of wrongdoing.

Adam was killed after officers responded to a ShotSpotter gunshot detector alert and saw two people in an alley in the 2300 block of South Sawyer Avenue, authorities say. A surveillance video released Thursday shows two people firing at a vehicle after it passed them on the street.

Police have said only that Adam was in an “armed confrontation” with an officer. They also released a photo of a handgun they say he was carrying.

In a court hearing Saturday, a Cook County prosecutor provided more details about the shooting, saying an officer confronted Adam at an opening in a fence. The officer asked Adam to show his hands and the teenager, who stood with his left side to the officer, lowered his right hand.

When the officer ordered Adam to “drop it,” he turned to the officer with the gun in his right hand and the officer shot him, the prosecutor said.

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office didn’t mention Saturday that Adam’s hands were raised when he was shot.

On Thursday, the office said the prosecutor “failed to fully inform himself before speaking in court. Errors like that cannot happen and this has been addressed with the individual involved. The video speaks for itself.”

In the weeks since Adam was killed, the Chicago Police Department has been on alert for possible retaliation by the Latin Kings street gang against police officers, according to department documents and sources. The area where Adam was shot is considered to be a Latin Kings stronghold.

According to prosecutors, Adam was hanging out with Roman, who was on probation for a gun offense. Roman is now charged with child endangerment, reckless discharge of a firearm and illegal gun possession in the incident.

At a court hearing for Roman on Saturday, a prosecutor said officers were responding to a gunshot detector that went off because Roman was shooting at a passing car. During a foot chase, Roman dropped red gloves, and tests determined they were covered with gunshot residue, the prosecutor said. Adam had gunshot residue on his right hand, the prosecutor said.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability’s decision to release body-camera videos, police radio transmissions and other evidence in the case represents a change from when the controversial video of the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald was released in 2015. In the McDonald case, a judge had ordered the release of the video.

That video depicted McDonald wounded on the street without medical attention for at least a minute.

Public outcry over the video led to a federal court order requiring sweeping reforms in the Chicago Police Department, which is continuing to put them in place slowly under the eye of a court-appointed monitor.

Jason Van Dyke, the officer who shot McDonald 16 times as he wielded a knife, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to more than six years in prison.

Contributing: Jon Seidel, Matthew Hendrickson and David Struett

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Reliving the awful details of George Floyd’s slow suffocation is brutal and emotionally draining. As always in matters touching on race, the thrum of ethnic hostilities is the background noise.

Some have been eager, since the trial began, to cite George Floyd’s drug use or heart trouble as the true cause of death (arguments the prosecution has effectively debunked). Others have argued that if Floyd had simply agreed to enter the squad car, he would be alive today — as if that exonerates the officers.

But it seems that the shadow of Derek Chauvin is obscuring our ability to make distinctions and respond rationally to other, similar cases.

Similar is the operative word. In the space of a few days, we’ve seen a police officer shoot and kill Daunte Wright in Minnesota and learned of a December case in which two police officers pointed guns at and pepper-sprayed Army Lt. Caron Nazario. They may be similar on the surface, but they are quite different in the details.

When I first heard of the Wright case, it was described as a “traffic stop” for expired tags, so I was stunned to see a video of the police attempting to handcuff Wright. Was this a case of driving while Black? Were the police harassing the young man because, as another account put it, he had “air freshener” tags hanging from his rear-view mirror?

Well, Minnesota law does forbid hanging items from car mirrors, and the Minnesota ACLU says these laws are sometimes pretexts to stop Black drivers. But in this case, it doesn’t seem that the police needed a pretext. The tags were expired. After checking on the vehicle through their database, the police found that there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Wright. He had failed to appear in court (via Zoom) for a “gross misdemeanor” charge of carrying a pistol without a permit, and for fleeing police on another occasion.

As the police were attempting to take Wright into custody, he pulled away. Officer Kim Potter shouted, “Taser, taser, taser!” before tragically firing her gun at him instead. As soon as the deed was done, she cried, “Holy s—, I shot him.”

This is a tragedy. Clearly, the officer who fired the gun made a grievous mistake. But that’s a far cry not just from Chauvin’s depraved conduct but from many other recent cases of police violence, as in the cases of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner.

Intent matters, as the jurors in the Chauvin case will soon be instructed. Chauvin had nine and a half minutes to consider the consequences of his actions. Officer Potter, though she committed a horrible error by reaching for her gun instead of her taser, pretty clearly did not intend to kill. She should never again be in a position to harm anyone, but this was not, it seems to me based on the known facts so far, a case of murder.

Nor is the rush to judgment about Potter fair. The demand that Potter be summarily fired, voiced by reporters at the mayor’s press conference on Monday, is unjust. Remember the rule of law? The city manager, responding to calls for her dismissal, said that she was entitled to due process first. He has now been fired. That’s how mobs work, not well-functioning polities. Potter announced her resignation on Tuesday.

Another case of police overreaction concerned Lt. Caron Nazario, an Army medic. He was driving to his home in Virginia in a new SUV that lacked a rear license plate. He had taped a temporary one to the inside of the back window, but that wasn’t visible to police until they got close. According to several accounts, officer Daniel Crocker attempted to pull Nazario over but Nazario didn’t stop. This prompted Crocker to put out a call that a vehicle was “eluding police.”

On the rare occasions that I’ve been flagged down by police, I pull over right away — or as soon as it is safe to do so. To keep driving for a mile or more seems likely to arouse the cops’ suspicion. It’s reasonable to drive to a well-lit place before stopping. But signaling compliance to cops seems important. Did he slow down and turn on his hazard lights? The drawn guns were probably excessive, though it’s important to note that the police pulled their guns before knowing the identity of the driver.

Watching the video, you see overheated cops with guns screaming at Nazario to exit the car, and Nazario weirdly declining to comply yet carefully placing his cellphone camera on the dashboard to capture the whole encounter. To their repeated demands that he exit the car, he gives odd responses like, “What’s going on?” They keep screaming at him to get out of the car and get on the ground and he keeps saying, “Calm down” or, “Can I speak to your supervisor?”

Of course, Nazario was right that he did nothing wrong. But he invited some degree of escalation by failing to comply.

It’s not news that we have a serious problem with violence in this country — by citizens and police alike. But we compound that problem by forcing every new incident — videotape preferred — into a predigested narrative. Both the Wright and Nazario cases are examples of human weakness, poor judgment and tragedy, but it’s not clear that they are morality plays.

Send letters to [email protected].

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The Chicago Board of Tirade

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Did Robert Mueller sell out his country or were we just victims of his hubris?

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By Bob Abrams,
today at 6:27 pm

Robert Mueller’s perpetual refrain following the release of his highly anticipated report was that the report speaks for itself.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard a stack of paper utter a single word.

Even if Mueller’s report was somehow imbued with magical powers and could actually speak, no one would have heard it because it was gagged, redacted and locked in a sound-proofed room.

Then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel overseeing an investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters in May of 2017.

Throughout most of Mueller’s investigation, Rosenstein seemed to support the probe and defend it against attacks from Trump and his supporters.

Rosenstein however, routinely opined that then-President Trump would respect the law, something that Mr. Trump had never shown any inclination to do. None. Never.

Trump never exhibited one iota of respect for the law and spent all of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ tenure berating Sessions for legally – and appropriately – recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

It was in fact, Trump’s continued attempts to obstruct and interfere with the investigation that led to the appointment of a special counsel in the first place.

After squeezing Sessions out, Trump nominated William Barr as his replacement in December of 2018. During his confirmation hearings, Barr left no doubt that he was a liar and would continue to lie to protect Donald Trump.

Exactly what Trump held over Barr’s head may eventually come to light; hopefully, in my lifetime.

All of which should be enough to make anyone incredulous as to how Barr’s deputy, Rod Rosenstein could insist that he was confident that Barr would do the right thing.

History will remember Barr as one of – if not THE – most corrupt Attorneys General ever; as a man who acted more like a consigliere to a mafia boss than a U.S. Attorney General.

Before he had a chance to read Mueller’s 400-page report, Barr issued a 3-1/2 page summary of the report incorrectly stating that the report exonerated Trump of any wrongdoing.

NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!

Atorney General William Barr stood behind an official podium and lied his ass off while his deputy, Rod Rosenstein stood silently behind him.

One would think that at this point, the man who spent two years investigating Russia’s interference in our elections and compiled a 400-page report outlining the serious offenses uncovered would have stepped forward to clarify what his report actually said.

Mueller remained silent, relying on an inanimate mound of paper to speak for itself and for him.

Two months after the release of his report, Mueller made a brief and very dry statement, the complete text of which you can read HERE.

While Mueller never challenged Barr’s account of his report, he made the following assertion, a cryptic message that was supposed to explain the impotence of the report: Charging the President with a crime was not an option we could consider.

For a man with Mueller’s impeccable record of bravery and leadership, it seemed like a cowardly exit.

Few people, if any read Mueller’s report. Republicans hid behind Barr’s exoneration and the country moved on, Trump still barking about the Russia hoax.

Had Mueller defended his report and made clear its findings, we might not be where we are today. There might not have been a January 6 insurrection and Brian Sicknick might still be alive.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I admit that I only read 175 pages of Mueller’s 400-page report. Perhaps I’m just not enough of a masochist to have read the whole thing.

Here’s my three main takeaways from what I read:

ONE: Russia launched a full scale attack on the United States to influence our 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump.

TWO: Donald Trump and his whole criminal entourage were up to their eyeballs in Russian agents and they all lied about it.

THREE: Donald Trump repeatedly tried to interfere in the investigation and attempted and/or obstructed justice in almost a dozen different instances.

With the Mueller Report marginalized and misrepresented, it was easy for Republicans to ignore the facts presented in Trump’s (first) impeachment trial and refuse to convict him. Only seven had the guts to vote to convict him in his second impeachment trial.

After surviving the Mueller investigation and two impeachment trials, Trump proved he was Teflon Don. He was untouchable.

Then came the Big Lie, that somehow, the 2020 election was stolen from him. Somehow, Democrats rigged elections in Republican controlled states.

Never mind that election officials across the country, most of them Republicans, declared their elections accurate and free of any sort of voter fraud.

Never mind that Trump’s own Attorney General and Department of Homeland Security declared the election legitimate, free and fair and devoid of any widespread voter fraud or irregularities.

The Big Lie took hold and January 6 happened. Now that Big Lie is fueling Republican legislative attempts to restrict the right of the elderly, college students, low income and minority groups to vote.

If this is what you meant by your report speaking for itself, Mr. Mueller, no one seems to be listening.

Anyone with severe pandemic boredom can read the full text of the Mueller Report HERE.

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Bob Abrams

Bob “RJ” Abrams is a political junkie, all-around malcontent and supporter of America’s warriors. After a career path that took him from merchandising at rock concerts to managing rock bands to a 27-year stint in the pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he’s seen our nation from up and down.
As Regional Coordinator of the Warriors’ Watch Riders (a motorcycle support group for the military and their families) Bob plays an active role in our nation’s support of America’s warriors and their families.
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NEW YORK — Cubs pitcher Ryan Tepera was suspended for three games on Thursday by Major League Baseball, which concluded he intentionally threw at Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff this week.

Tepera appealed the penalty handed down by MLB senior vice president for on-field operations Michael Hill. Tepera, who also was fined, will not have to serve any discipline while the appeal is pending before MLB special adviser John McHale Jr.

Cubs manager David Ross was suspended for one game and fined because of Tepera’s actions. Managers immediately serve discipline, and Ross will sit out the Cubs’ series opener against Atlanta on Friday.

Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch from Woodruff leading off the fourth inning on Tuesday night. Tepera threw a pitch behind Woodruff in the fifth.

Contreras hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Brent Suter in the eighth, and the Cubs went on to win 3-2.

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Leave it to Adam Eaton to stir things up.

Both dugouts and bullpens emptied in the first inning of the White Sox’ 4-2 loss to the Indians Thursday after Eaton shoved Indians shortstop Andres Gimenez after getting called out trying to stretch a single into a double. Eaton was safely on the bag, but felt Gimenez lifted his arm off the base, and the out ruined a second-and-third with no outs opportunity.

“I let the emotions kind of get the best of me there just because I felt like any time you get pushed off the bag when you are safe, it’s a little frustrating,” Eaton said.

Yoan Moncada’s two-out single scored Tim Anderson, who hit Aaron Civale’s first pitch for a single and advanced on Eaton’s hit, but the Sox did not score again until Luis Robert led off the ninth with a triple and scored on an error.

“The umpire [Bill Miller] ruled it was just a hard tag,” manager Tony La Russa said. “You start pressing like that, you can just beat the heck out of the guy you’re tagging, just knock him off the base. I don’t think that’s allowable. I mean, you can’t go to the first baseman and knock him over, the third baseman.”

Eaton is known for playing with an edge, and he said teammates thanked him for giving them a shot of adrenaline early in a day game after a night game. But he “wasn’t proud” of his actions.

The fracas was tame by bench clearing standards but MLB is taking a harder stance against bench clearings with coronavirus health and safety protocols warning players who come within six feet of each other “for the purpose of argument or engage in altercations on the field” subject to ejection and discipline, including fines and suspensions.

“Didn’t even think of that but thank you for putting that in my mind,” Eaton said. “I’ll be sweating it out for the next six to eight hours after hearing that.

“If MLB is listening I’m sorry, don’t suspend me, please.”

Lynn’s wasted effort

Right-hander Lance Lynn made his third solid start, following Carlos Rodon’s no-hitter with two hitless innings to start the game and allowing two runs over six innings. Lynn struck out 10 but Jose Ramirez’ two-run homer with two out and two strikes in the sixth produced the first earned runs scored against Lynn (0.97 ERA) and erased a 1-0 Sox lead.

The Sox managed five hits after the first inning, two in the infield and one a pop fly by Yermin Mercedes that fell for a double.

Cease passes tests

Right-hander Dylan Cease passed precautionary tests for the coronavirus after going on the IL with symptoms Wednesday and was cleared to travel with the team to Boston. Cease’s turn to pitch is Friday and he is expected to make the start.

Williams DFA’d

Anderson was activated off the the 10-day injured list, and outfielder Nick Williams was designated for assignment to make room on the 26-man roster.

Williams was 0-for-10 with two walks in four games. The Sox have a week to trade Williams or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

This and that

MLB celebrated Jackie Robinson Day, with all players and uniformed personnel wearing No. 42 to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Hall-of-Famer breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947.

*Jose Abreu (.184) struck out three times, once with Anderson on third and no outs, and made two errors on the same play.

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Are you visiting Chicago and looking for a unique stay in the heart of a great neighborhood? Do you live in the area but want to stay downtown for the weekend in a luxurious space? Make yourself at home at one of these extra-special, extra-beautiful spaces with the best Chicago Airbnb listings on the market. 

Located in the upscale Gold Coast neighborhood, this rehabbed apartment includes a king-size bed, updated kitchen, and a Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinet. Building amenities include a rooftop patio, a pool, and a gym making it one of these most upscale Chicago Airbnb listings on here. 

Enjoy amazing views from the balcony of this “loft-style” apartment. When you’re not sight-seeing, take advantage of the pool table in the living room, the in-wall fireplace, or the comfy queen-size bed.

Emil Bach House is not only an “architectural treasure,” but a great place to stay overnight as well. This Chicago Airbnb listing itself is sizable and impressive, looking out onto beautiful gardens which sit adjacent to a Japanese tea house.

Experience hip city living at this penthouse in Fulton Market. 15-foot ceilings and large windows make this a spacious spot to take a breather from all of the nightlife and outdoor dining you’ll be doing in the neighborhood.

Stretch out in this South Loop penthouse and make the most of a well-equipped game room. With over 4000 arcade games, a pool table, foosball, karaoke, and more, you’ll never get bored.

This townhouse near Wrigley Field is a visually stunning stay. With murals recreating Van Gogh’s Starry Night and the Morton Salt girl, a handmade mosaic shower, and eclectic home accents, the house is truly unique.

This apartment just north of downtown is decorated with lots of rock n’ roll memorabilia, and is conveniently located just above a “trendy restaurant.” Enjoy a large canopy bed, full kitchen, and exposed brick walls during your stay.

This townhouse in Lincoln Park is pure luxury. 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms give guests tons of room, the design is clean and contemporary, and both the bar and fireplace are ready for a date night in this Chicago Airbnb listing.

This industrial-style apartment comes with a full kitchen, pool table, private rooftop space with amazing views, and access to the building’s gym. Get away from home while simultaneously enjoying all of its comforts.

Experience the hip aesthetic of “artist” loft living without the “starving” part when you rent this Artist’s Loft in the trendy West Loop. With industrial accents, a spiral staircase, beautiful large bedrooms and a full kitchen, you’ll start to feel more artsy in no time.

Chicago Airbnb Featured Image Credit: Pixabay

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The Southport corridor venue gets new life and new leadership.

Retractions generally aren’t fun for journalists. But the announcement last week that Mercury Theater Chicago isn’t dead after all makes me happy—even if it means that my obituary for them as one of the losses in Chicago theater for 2020 now has to be taken back in its entirety.…Read More