A majority of the City Council’s Hispanic Caucus has endorsed a civilian police oversight plan — one already rejected by Mayor Lori Lightfoot — to fix what it called a “broken” accountability system unmasked by the police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th), chairman of the Hispanic Caucus, said Wednesday there is a “growing mistrust” of the Chicago Police Department in communities of color that can be reversed only by “robust civilian oversight and community control” over CPD.

That’s precisely what would happen under the compromise ordinance crafted by two groups that have long pushed dramatically different versions of civilian police oversight: the Civilian Police Accountability Council and the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability.

Five aldermen in the 13-member Hispanic Caucus did not participate in the vote to endorse the compromise. The vote was 7 to 1.

Under the compromise, Chicago voters would be asked to approve a binding referendum on the 2022 primary ballot empowering a civilian police oversight commission to hire and fire the police superintendent, negotiate police contracts and set CPD’s budget.

Lightfoot would lose the power to hire and fire the police superintendent. Her Law Department and hand-picked negotiators would lose the power to negotiate police contracts.

And Lightfoot and aldermen would be stripped of the power they now hold to establish the CPD budget, ceding that power as well to an 11-member civilian oversight commission composed of nine elected commissioners and two mayoral appointees.

Provided

Even if voters reject the binding referendum, the 11-member commission would have the final say in disputes over police policy unless two-thirds of the Council decides otherwise. The commission also would be empowered to take a vote of no-confidence in the superintendent and hire and fire the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

“The Toledo family — they’ve been left in the dark, according to the reports that I have seen or read. In other instances last year and previous years, victims and families of victims — primarily families of color — they are left in the dark when a loved one is shot and killed by police. Justifiable or not. But they don’t know. They have no information. They are not providing to the families any information,” Maldonado said.

“What the [Toledo] family is asking of the police [is], ‘Give us the tape. Show us the tape. We are entitled to see that video. Why can’t you do it?’ I believe that an independent, elected commission would be responsible and, hopefully, would make sure those things would not happen and allow the community to retain trust in the police, especially communities of color.”

Lightfoot has argued she alone “wears the jacket” for Chicago violence and she’s not about to “outsource” responsibility for CPD to a civilian police oversight commission.

Ald. George Cardenas (12th), Lightfoot’s deputy floor leader, sided with the mayor. He was one of the five Hispanic Caucus members who did not participate in the vote.

“Mayors must be held accountable for both. For the crime that happens in the streets and the education that happens in the schools. My advice to the mayor is, you cannot abdicate those responsibilities to anybody,” said Cardenas, whose Southwest Side ward includes the Little Village neighborhood where Toledo was killed.

“Unless the mayor is part of that, I don’t think it’s gonna pass. I don’t think it’s gonna go anywhere because that’s what they hire the mayor for. There’s two things they must do well. That’s crime and education. The rest of it is gravy. Why would you have somebody that’s gonna make those kinds of decisions while you’re trying to run the city? What if they run it further into the ground?”

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

Earlier this week, Lightfoot vowed to hunt down and hold accountable adults responsible for “putting a gun in to the hands” of Adam Toledo.

How does she know the 13-year-old had a gun in his hands if she hasn’t seen the bodycam and security camera video of the shooting?

“While I have not seen the video, I’ve clearly gotten a significant number of briefings about the circumstances there. But I won’t say more because I don’t want to get ahead of or unduly influence the COPA investigation, the detective investigation and the state’s attorney investigation,” she said.

COPA has said “troubling video footage” from the scene of the shooting will be released a soon as possible, but only after the Toledo family has an opportunity to see it first.

Lightfoot said she has no idea when that will be and is “frustrated” it hasn’t happened.

“Ms. Toledo deserves some answers. She’s obviously expressed an interest in seeing multiple videos. And I think she has a right to. So I’m hoping that that gets scheduled sooner, rather than later,” the mayor said.

Read More

MINNEAPOLIS — Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck — and was bearing down with most of his weight — the entire 9 1/2 minutes the Black man lay facedown with his hands cuffed behind his back, a use-of-force expert testified Wednesday at Chauvin’s murder trial.

Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant serving as a prosecution witness, said that based on his review of video evidence, Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck or neck area from the time officers put Floyd on the ground until paramedics arrived.

“That particular force did not change during the entire restraint period?” prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked as he showed the jury a composite image of five photos taken from the various videos of the arrest.

“Correct,” replied Stiger, who on Tuesday testified that the force used against Floyd was excessive.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson sought to point out moments in the video footage when, he said, Chauvin’s knee did not appear to be on Floyd’s neck but on his shoulder blade area or the base of his neck. Stiger did not give much ground, saying the officer’s knee in some of the contested photos still seemed to be near Floyd’s neck.

The defense attorney also asked Stiger whether video showed Floyd picked up his head and moved it at times.

“Slightly, yes. He attempted to,” Stiger said.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death May 25. Floyd, 46, was arrested outside a neighborhood market after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A panicky-sounding Floyd struggled and claimed to be claustrophobic as police tried to put him in a squad car, and they pinned him down on the pavement.

Bystander video of Floyd crying that he couldn’t breathe as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off him sparked protests and scattered violence around the U.S. and triggered a reckoning over racism and police brutality.

Nelson has argued that the now-fired white officer “did exactly what he had been trained to do over his 19-year career,” and he has suggested that the illegal drugs in Floyd’s system and his underlying health conditions are what killed him, not Chauvin’s knee.

Nelson seized on the drug angle in cross-examining Stiger, playing a snippet of then-Officer J. Kueng’s body-camera video and asking whether Stiger could hear Floyd say, “I ate too many drugs.”

Stiger said he could not make out those words in the footage.

Chauvin’s lawyer also asked Stiger about uses of force that are commonly referred to by police as “lawful but awful.” The witness conceded that “you can have a situation where by law it looks horrible to the common eye, but based on the state law, it’s lawful.”

Nelson has argued that the officers on the scene perceived the onlookers as an increasingly hostile crowd and were distracted by them.

But Stiger told the jury, “I did not perceive them as being a threat,” even though some onlookers were name-calling and using foul language. He added that most of the yelling was due to “their concern for Mr. Floyd.”

Nelson’s voice rose as he asked Stiger how a reasonable officer would be trained to view a crowd while dealing with a suspect, “and somebody else is now pacing around and watching you and watching you and calling you names and saying (expletives).” Nelson said such a situation “could be viewed by a reasonable officer as a threat.”

“As a potential threat, correct,” Stiger said.

Chauvin’s lawyer noted that dispatchers had described Floyd as between 6 feet and 6-foot-6 and possibly under the influence. Stiger agreed it was reasonable for Chauvin to come to the scene with a heightened sense of awareness.

Stiger further agreed with Nelson that an officer’s actions must be judged from the point of view of a reasonable officer on the scene, not in hindsight. Among other things, Nelson said that given typical EMS response times, it was reasonable for Chauvin to believe that paramedics would be there soon.

In other testimony, Stiger said that as Floyd lay pinned to the ground, Chauvin squeezed Floyd’s fingers and pulled one of his wrists toward his handcuffs, a technique that uses pain to get someone to comply, but Chauvin did not appear to let up while Floyd was restrained.

“Then at that point it’s just pain,” Stiger said.

Asked by prosecutors whether Chauvin had an obligation to take Floyd’s distress into account as he was considering how much force to use, Stiger replied: “Absolutely. As as the time went on, clearly in the video, you could see that Mr. Floyd’s … health was deteriorating. His breath was getting lower. His tone of voice was getting lower. His movements were starting to cease.”

“So at that point, as a officer on scene,” Stiger continued, “you have a responsibility to realize that, ‘OK, something is not right. Something has changed drastically from what was occurring earlier.’ So therefore you have a responsibility to take some type of action.”

Instead of closing ranks to protect a fellow officer behind what has been dubbed the “blue wall of silence,” some of the most experienced members of the Minneapolis force, including the police chief, have taken the stand to openly condemn Chauvin’s actions as excessive and contrary to his training and departmental policy.

According to testimony and records submitted in court, Chauvin underwent training in 2016 and 2018 in de-escalation techniques to calm down people in crisis and instruction in how officers must use the least amount of force required to get a suspect to comply.

On Stiger’s first day on the stand, on Tuesday, he said police were justified in using force while Floyd was resisting their efforts to put him in the squad car. But once Floyd was on the ground and stopped struggling, he said, officers should have eased up.

___

Webber reported from Fenton, Mich.

Read More

Police are searching for a man who allegedly exposed himself to children last month in Lawndale and was recently seen following girls in a minivan.

On March 23, two girls were walking about 11:45 a.m. in the 1300 block of South Homan Avenue when a man called them over to the vehicle he was sitting in, Chicago police said.

The man exposed himself to the girls and touched himself inappropriately, police said. He was driving a dark-gray Chevrolet Equinox with Illinois license plate CG14976.

Police said the same vehicle was seen following girls Monday near 13th Street and St. Louis Avenue.

The suspect was about 40 years old with a short afro-style haircut and was last seen wearing a black baseball hat, white T-shirt and light blue jeans, police said.

Anyone with information was asked to call Area Four detectives at (312) 746-8251.

Read More

You might be aware of this already, but we have an NFL team in town that can’t get the quarterback position right. I don’t want to suggest that the Bears are cursed in this regard, but if they were somehow gifted with Tom Brady, there’s a good chance he’d immediately forget how to grip a football.

You might be aware of this, too, but you have to go back to Sid Luckman to find the team’s last true star quarterback. That’s a bummer because he grew up with George Washington.

So the Bears are in a very bad predicament, exacerbated by the presence of two people – general manager Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy — whose job security is tied to their ability to solve the quarterback problem. It’s a very bad predicament because it was Pace who infamously deemed that Mitch Trubisky was better than Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson in the 2017 draft. And it’s a very bad predicament because Pace and Nagy are holding first-round picks, this year’s and future years’, that they might use to fix what Pace broke four years ago. They could cripple the franchise for a decade with another horrible decision.

So these are the guys you want deciding the Bears’ future? No. It’s why I described the predicament so eloquently as “very bad.” Let me make it worse for you. Would the Bears be willing to get down in the mud and trade for the Texans’ Watson, who can’t seem to go two hours these days without another massage therapist accusing him of either sexual assault or inappropriate behavior? The count is now 22.

The initial reaction is that there is no way the McCaskeys, who are as morally upright as a bishop’s ceremonial staff, would ever bring in a player with so much apparent baggage. And, with so much attention given to women’s rights these days, it would be public-relations suicide to trade for a man who allegedly wanted a lot more from his massage therapists than an answer to, say, tight hamstrings. It’s why Nike announced Wednesday that it has suspended its endorsement deal with Watson.

But this is the NFL, where decency is often told to take a hike when an ultra-talented player is involved. Or just a regular talented player. In 2015, the Bears signed defensive end Ray McDonald after the 49ers had waived him while he was under investigation for sexual assault. Not long after the signing, the Bears cut him after charges of domestic violence and child endangerment were filed against him.

So let’s not pretend that the franchise is above this sort of thing. Sure, it’s possible that chairman George McCaskey, who allowed Pace to talk him into signing McDonald, has learned his lesson. But it’s also possible that decades of being without a quarterback have lowered the McCaskey’s threshold for what they’re willing to ignore. It’s amazing what people are willing to explain away in the name of a potential championship.

This whole discussion is an exercise in hypotheticals – if the Texans would be willing to trade Watson, if Watson would be willing to waive his no-trade clause and if the Bears would be willing to sell their souls for a quarterback. But here’s how NFL teams think, hypothetical or not: Can we get away with this?

And how about you, dear Bears fan? Would trading for Watson be worth the stain that won’t come out in the wash? Don’t play the innocent-until-proven-guilty card, that the quarterback’s word is worth just as much as the chorus on the other side. This is about the reality of the situation. You have to make this personnel decision knowing that the public backlash against the team would be massive. For anyone who wants the Bears to trade for Watson, the question, rightly and loudly, will be, this is what you think of women?

You can say I’m dealing in make-believe, that there’s no way any team besides the Texans would take on the risk of having Watson on its roster. There’s a chance that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will put Watson on the exempt list while the league investigates him. And there’s a chance that Watson could be facing criminal charges and prison time. You know what NFL teams say about that sort of thing: “And?”

I see the Bears with little to no chance of getting one of the so-called quality quarterbacks in this month’s draft. I see a franchise worth billions of dollars that knows it can’t be disliked much more than it is right now. I see a club that can’t possibly think that the recently signed Andy Dalton is the answer. Right? Right?

But the Bears couldn’t be so tone deaf as to trade for a pariah like Watson, could they? Could they?

Before the accusations started flooding in against Watson, I wrote that he wouldn’t want to come to the Bears after the way they had treated him before the 2017 draft. They declined to wine and dine him the way they did with Trubisky. But now he’s in a mess. Perhaps he’s looking for a change of scenery, even if the scenery includes a Bears management team that didn’t seem to think much of him when he was coming out of Clemson four years ago.

These are desperate times for a number of people. How low is everyone willing to go? I fear the worst.

Read More

MINNEAPOLIS — Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck — and was bearing down with most of his weight — the entire 9 1/2 minutes the Black man lay facedown with his hands cuffed behind his back, a use-of-force expert testified Wednesday at Chauvin’s murder trial.

Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant serving as a prosecution witness, said that based on his review of video evidence, Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck or neck area from the time officers put Floyd on the ground until paramedics arrived.

“That particular force did not change during the entire restraint period?” prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked as he showed the jury a composite image of five photos taken from the various videos of the arrest.

“Correct,” Stiger replied.

Stiger’s testimony came a day after Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson sought to point out moments in the video footage when, he said, Chauvin’s knee did not appear to be on Floyd’s neck.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death May 25. Floyd, 46, was arrested outside a neighborhood market after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A panicky-sounding Floyd struggled and claimed to be claustrophobic as police tried to put him in a squad car, and they put him down on the pavement.

Bystander video of Floyd crying that he couldn’t breathe as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off him sparked protests and scattered violence around the U.S. and triggered a reckoning over racism and police brutality.

Nelson has argued that the now-fired white officer “did exactly what he had been trained to do over his 19-year career,” and he has suggested that the illegal drugs in Floyd’s system and his underlying health conditions are what killed him, not Chauvin’s knee.

Nelson seized on the drug angle in cross-examining Stiger, playing a snippet of then-Officer J. Kueng’s body-camera video and asking whether Stiger could hear Floyd say, “I ate too many drugs.”

Stiger replied that he could not make out those words in the footage.

Prosecutors did not bring up the issue when they questioned Stiger again.

Nelson has also contended that the officers on the scene perceived the onlookers as an increasingly hostile crowd and were distracted by them. On Tuesday, the defense attorney got some police witnesses to acknowledge that jeering bystanders can make it more difficult for officers to do their duty.

On Wednesday, Stiger told the jury, “I did not perceive them as being a threat,” even though some onlookers were name-calling and using foul language. He added that most of the yelling was due to “their concern for Mr. Floyd.”

Nelson’s voice rose as he asked Stiger how a reasonable officer would be trained to view a crowd while dealing with a suspect, “and somebody else is now pacing around and watching you and watching you and calling you names and saying (expletives).” Nelson said “this could be viewed by a reasonable officer as a threat.”

“As a potential threat, correct,” Stiger said.

The defense attorney also asked Stiger whether video showed Floyd picked up his head and moved it at times.

“Slightly, yes. He attempted to,” Stiger replied.

In his cross-examination, Chauvin’s lawyer also noted that dispatchers had described Floyd as between 6 feet and 6-foot-6 and possibly under the influence. Stiger agreed it was reasonable for Chauvin to come to the scene with a heightened sense of awareness.

Stiger further agreed with Nelson that an officer’s actions must be viewed from the point of view of a reasonable officer on the scene, not in hindsight.

The defense attorney suggested that when Chauvin told Floyd to “relax,” he was trying to calm him down and reassure him. And Nelson said that given typical EMS response times, it was reasonable for Chauvin to believe that paramedics would be there soon.

Stiger also testified that Chauvin squeezed Floyd’s fingers and pulled one of his wrists toward his handcuffs, a technique that uses pain to get someone to comply, but he did not appear to let up while Floyd was restrained.

“Then at that point it’s just pain,” Stiger said.

Asked by prosecutors whether Chauvin had an obligation to take Floyd’s distress into account as he was considering what level of force to use, Stiger replied: “Absolutely. As as the time went on, clearly in the video, you could see that Mr. Floyd’s … health was deteriorating. His breath was getting lower. His tone of voice was getting lower. His movements were starting to cease.”

“So at that point, as a officer on scene, you have a responsibility to realize that, ‘OK, something is not right,'” Stiger continued. “‘Something has changed drastically from what was occurring earlier.’ So therefore you have a responsibility to take some type of action.”

It was Stiger’s second day on the stand. On Tuesday, he testified that the force used against Floyd was excessive. He said police were justified in using force while Floyd was resisting their efforts to put him in a squad car. But once Floyd was on the ground and stopped resisting, officers “should have slowed down or stopped their force as well.”

Instead of closing ranks to protect a fellow officer behind what has been dubbed the “blue wall of silence,” some of the most experienced members of the Minneapolis force, including the police chief, have taken the stand to openly condemn Chauvin’s actions as excessive and contrary to his training and departmental policy.

According to testimony and records submitted in court, Chauvin underwent training in 2016 and 2018 in de-escalation techniques to calm down people in crisis and instruction in how officers must use the least amount of force required to get a suspect to comply.

Webber reported from Fenton, Mich.

Read More

LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods was speeding when he crashed an SUV in Southern California less than two months ago, leaving the golf superstar seriously injured, authorities said Wednesday.

Woods was driving 84 to 87 mph on a downhill stretch of road outside Los Angeles that had a speed limit of 45 mph, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday.

The stretch of road is known for wrecks and drivers hitting speeds so high that there is an emergency exit for runaway vehicles just beyond where Woods crashed.

Villanueva blamed the Feb. 23 crash solely on excessive speed and Woods’ loss of control behind the wheel. Sheriff’s Capt. James Powers said there was no evidence that the golfer braked throughout the wreck and that it’s believed Woods inadvertently hit the accelerator instead of the brake pedal.

Detectives did not seek search warrants for the athlete’s blood samples, which could have been screened for drugs or alcohol, or his cellphone. Sheriff’s officials said there was no evidence of impairment or of distracted driving.

Investigators, however, did search the SUV’s data recorder, known as a black box, in the days after the crash.

No traffic citations were issued. The sheriff said Woods gave permission for authorities to reveal details about the crash.

Documents show that Woods told deputies he did not know how the crash occurred and did not remember driving. At the time of the wreck, Woods was recovering from a fifth back surgery, which took place two months earlier.

Woods, who is originally from the Los Angeles area, had been back home to host his PGA tournament, the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, when the crash happened.

He was driving an SUV loaned to him by the tournament when he struck a raised median in Rolling Hills Estates, just outside Los Angeles. The SUV crossed through two oncoming lanes and uprooted a tree.

The athlete is in Florida recovering from multiple surgeries, including a lengthy procedure for shattered tibia and fibula bones in his lower right leg in multiple locations. Those were stabilized with a rod in his tibia. Additional injuries to the bones in his foot and ankle required screws and pins.

Woods, 45, has never gone an entire year without playing, dating back to his first PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old in high school. He had hoped to play this year in the Masters tournament, which begins Thursday.

Rory McIlroy, a four-time major golf champion who lives near Woods in Florida, said he visited him on March 21.

“Spent a couple hours with him, which was nice. It was good to see him,” McIlroy said Tuesday from the Masters. “It was good to see him in decent spirits. When you hear of these things and you look at the car and you see the crash, you think he’s going to be in a hospital bed for six months. But he was actually doing better than that.”

In the weeks after the crash, the sheriff called it “purely an accident” and said there was no evidence of impairment. Villanueva faced criticism for labeling the crash an accident before the investigation had concluded.

Detectives searched the data recorder of the 2021 Genesis GV80 SUV, known as a black box. Investigators did not seek a search warrant, however, for Woods’ blood samples, which could be screened for drugs and alcohol.

This is the third time Woods has been involved in a vehicle investigation.

The most notorious example was when his SUV ran over a fire hydrant and hit a tree early on the morning after Thanksgiving in 2009. That crash was the start of shocking revelations that he had been cheating on his wife with multiple women. Woods lost major corporate sponsorships, went to a rehabilitation clinic in Mississippi and did not return to golf for five months.

In May 2017, Florida police found him asleep behind the wheel of a car parked awkwardly on the side of the road. He was arrested on a DUI charge and said later he had an unexpected reaction to prescription medicine for his back pain. Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving and checked into a clinic to get help with prescription medication and a sleep disorder.

Read More

The Blackhawks have purchased their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, from the City of Rockford in a $11.8 million deal.

Governor J.B. Pritzker, Hawks chairman Rocky Wirtz, Rockford Area Venues and Entertainment Authority chairman Craig Thomas and other involved parties announced the deal at a press conference Wednesday at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

The IceHogs simultaneously signed a new 15-year lease at the downtown Rockford arena, securing the minor-league franchise’s future.

“The Rockford IceHogs have played a critical role in our franchise’s success, and today, the IceHogs officially become a part of the Chicago Blackhawks family,” Wirtz said in a statement. “Not only is this an exciting opportunity from a hockey perspective, but…we are reinvesting in Illinois to generate positive economic as well as philanthropic impact.”

The City of Rockford had owned the franchise since it became the Hawks’ AHL affiliate in 2007, but the affiliation contract was previously set to expire in 2022.

RAVE filed a Request for Proposals on March 4, initiating the process of selling the team to the Hawks, who became the 21st NHL franchise out of 32 total (including the new Seattle Kraken) to own their AHL affiliate. The Hawks’ ECHL affiliate, the Indy Fuel, remains privately owned.

In addition to purchasing the team, the Hawks also announced a $23 million renovation plan for the BMO Harris Bank Center, which seats 6,200 for hockey but recently turned 40 years old.

Of the $23 million, $13 million will come from Rebuild Illinois grants from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), while the other $10 million will come from local Rockford funding and private investments.

“This investment in turn will create new jobs, boost revenues and help reinvigorate tourism to the area,” DCEO director Sylvia Garcia said. “Every game played here will continue to have an economic impact for local businesses, generating revenues for bars, restaurants and hotels that populate the downtown Rockford area.”

The arena will receive an exterior makeover, new environmental sustainability features and infrastructural repairs to the concrete foundation, ice surface and mechanical systems, Thomas said.

Concourses will be expanded, food stands upgraded and bathrooms renovated. There will also be new “premium” seating options and a new scoreboard.

“With this fantastic investment, we’re going to be able to address a number of projects, from core infrastructure to modernization,” Thomas added. “It’s completely going to be a completely different look and feel for our patrons as they come into the facility.”

The sale comes as the IceHogs’ role in prospect development becomes increasingly important to the future-looking Hawks, too.

Many of the rookies exceeding expectations on the Hawks this season — Kevin Lankinen, Brandon Hagel, Philipp Kurashev and others — all gained key experience in Rockford last season. This year’s IceHogs roster is loaded with Hawks prospects, too, although they’ve gone 6-12-1 with 11 games left in the shortened AHL season.

Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton, who got his start in the organization coaching the IceHogs in 2017-18, said Wednesday was an “important day for the organization.”

“My time in Rockford was very important for me and my development,” Colliton said. “For the players, it’s important, as well… There’s a lot of positives about the relationship we have, and now it’ll be even closer. The thought that we’ll be able to upgrade the conditions down there, it’s great.”

Note: New forward Mike Hardman practiced with the Hawks for the first time Wednesday after signing last week when his Boston College season ended. Colliton said he doesn’t have a plan yet for getting Hardman into the lineup and wants to get him “up to speed” first.

Read More

The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

• Home
• Why “The Barbershop?”
• Check out my new website
• My Chicago Tribune archives
• Order my historical novel, “Madness: The War of 1812”
• Contact me

Derek Chauvin is on trial. America is NOT

Leave a comment

Tweet

By Dennis Byrne,
today at 11:33 am

Will jury trials be the next cancellation victim?

We have been dutifully informed and warned that if Derek Chauvin is not convicted of murdering George Floyd, America will be guilty of racism.

Leonard Pitts, Jr., lays out an impressive list of places where you will find the assertion that “America is on trial.” Among them are Time magazine,, the Toronto Star, CNN’s Don Lemon, the Rev. Al Sharpton, a group of black barbers in Washington, D.C, and Floyd’s sister, Philonise Floyd.

Pitts’ own riff on it is that “maybe” America is on trial but that ,”This trial cannot vindicate America.”

Here’s mine:

Unless you are in the courtroom, heard every witness, saw all the proceedings, heard the judge’s instructions and sat in on jury deliberations, you can’t judge the verdict.

Sure, you have a right to have an opinion. But if you haven’t done all those things, your opinion is not persuasive. And it’s certainly not correct or intelligent enough to declare that an entire country’s guilt or innocence can be determined by a single jury in a single murder trial of one man.

This is scary.

This is mob rule. This is trial by public opinion, popular demand. Might as well have a Gallup survey. This argues that a crowd–peaceful or not–can substitute its judgment regarding the guilt or innocence of a single person for that of a jury in a system that is designed to protect the very idea of justice. That everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

The jury system was and is meant to be a bulwark against a tyrannical government that can jail or execute opponents and enemies for political reasons. A jury of “peers” is an idea that goes back centuries and is a cornerstone of Common Law. It protects against “star chambers” that the king and loyalty used to oppress innocent victims.

Now, instead of trial by a privileged elite, we’re supposed to accept the opposite: trial by the swarming masses.

But, but, I’ll be told. The evidence against Chauvin is so clear, so condemning that people can in all honesty know that he is guilty. Only a racist jury could find him innocent.

First, we haven’t heard the other side. In fact, even before the trial started, so many already were asserting that a not-guilty verdict would be an indictment against America.

Even if we had heard the defense’s case, we still weren’t in the courtroom and jury room. We weren’t in the same position as is the jury to judge the witnesses’ credibility, his body language, facial expressions and subtle signs of truthfulness.

Unless we saw the judge and witnessed his instructions to the jury, we wouldn’t have adequate knowledge of the law upon which a guilty or innocent verdict would be based.

Not being in the jury room, we’re in no position to judge the argumentation, dedication and motivation of the jury members.

Instead, we have been flooded with prejudicial “evidence” that is not allowed in the trial. We have been buffeted by commentary, news stories and perspectives meant to “help” us make up our minds.

Unfairly and dangerously, the jury system has been jeopardized by threats of public reaction or even reaction. I admire anyone who is willing to make a judgment about anyone’s life who has the courage to stand up to the crowd.

Some people routinely warn that democracy is in danger, often for partisan reasons. In this case it’s true. Trial by throngs is a challenge to one of the most fundamental principles of a democracy.

Now is the time for President Joe Bin to step up to defend juries. He would show that he is his own man, for a change.

Filed under:
Uncategorized

Tweet

• Advertisement:

• Advertisement:

• 
  

  Welcome to ChicagoNow.

  Meet
  our bloggers,
  
  post comments, or
  
  pitch your blog idea.

  Sign in
  Pitch your idea
  Play games

• Facebook

• Visit my new website

  I’m a freelance writer, editor and author. I can help you with a wide variety of projects. Check out my new website at www.dennisbyrne.net

• Subscribe to The Barbershop

  Enter your email address:

  Delivered by FeedBurner

• Dennis Byrne’s Facebook Fan Page

  [embedded content]

• Blogroll

  The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor’s favorite blogs
  • Blithe Spirit
  • Center for Media and Public Affiars
  • Chicago Daily Observer
  • Forgotten Chicago
  • Pat Hickey’s “With Both Hands”
  • QT brought to you by Zay Smith

• Like me on Facebook

  [embedded content]

• Blogroll

  The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor’s favorite blogs
  • Blithe Spirit
    Assorted commentary offered in lieu of organized commentary that is not yet organized
  • Center for Media and Public Affiars
  • Chicago Daily Observer
    Intelligent commentary about Chicago politics
  • Forgotten Chicago
    A great site featuring what Chicago used to be and how it got to what it is now.
  • Pat Hickey’s “With Both Hands”
  • QT brought to you by Zay Smith
    Chicago’s wittiest columnist

• Our National Debt

• Twitter

• Tags

  • politics (269)
  • Illinois (164)
  • Chicago (157)
  • Obama (105)
  • COVID-19 (78)
  • Barack Obama (76)
  • Obamacare (72)
  • elections (69)
  • Donald Trump (65)
  • health care (62)
  Show more tags »

• Recent Comments

  • 

    Richard Davis

    1 hour, 14 minutes ago

    In reply to Aquinas wired:

    Aside from the Democrat talking points, then, in regard to something like the deliberate omission of Gov DeSantis’ answer on…
    Read the story | Reply to this comment
  • 

    natiliesarah07

    12 hours, 43 minutes ago

    The greatest similarities may be their proximity to core urban areas and high-paying corporate or government jobs, as well as…
    Read the story | Reply to this comment
  • 

    Get out of IL now!

    16 hours, 40 minutes ago

    Where are your sources? Please provide documentation for your statement.
    Read the story | Reply to this comment
  • 

    Aquinas wired

    17 hours, 8 minutes ago

    DeSantis is just another corrupt Republican politician.
    Read the story | Reply to this comment
  • 

    Aquinas wired

    17 hours, 11 minutes ago

    There are plenty of journalists around today. What bothers you is that the vast number of them share the values…
    Read the story | Reply to this comment

• 

• /Users/dennisby/Desktop/trailer.mp4

• Recent posts

  • Derek Chauvin is on trial. America is NOT »

    Dennis Byrne on The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor
    Posted today at 11:33 am

  • UPDATED: NBC anchor Holt explains why media fairness is overrated »

    Dennis Byrne on The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor
    Posted Tuesday at 1:55 pm

  • Hey, as long as we’re raising taxes, let’s not forget the social security payroll tax »

    Dennis Byrne on The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor
    Posted Tuesday at 10:44 am

  • CBS 60 Minutes plants a shiv in Florida’s Gov. DeSantis in a wildly biased report »

    Dennis Byrne on The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor
    Posted Monday at 3:21 pm

  • Washington Post gives Biden four Pinocchios for Georgia voting law blarney »

    Dennis Byrne on The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor
    Posted Monday at 1:07 pm

• Latest on ChicagoNow

  • A Mayor’s Inherited Dilemma/ The 60 Year Fight for the Hearts and Minds of Chicago’s Youth/The Gang lure VS A Decent Society

    from JUST SAYIN by BOB ANGONE
    posted today at 12:48 pm

  • Derek Chauvin is on trial. America is NOT

    from The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor by Dennis Byrne
    posted today at 11:33 am

  • Masterpiece

    from Free Your Mind by Tiffany Grant
    posted today at 8:39 am

  • Chicago Now’s Best Posts of March 2021

    from Margaret Serious by Margaret H. Laing
    posted Tuesday at 6:49 pm

  • Game Post 4/6

    from Cubs Den by Sean Holland
    posted Tuesday at 4:35 pm

• Posts from related blogs

  • 

    Margaret Serious

    Most recent post: Chicago Now’s Best Posts of March 2021

  • 

    Offhanded Dribble

    Most recent post: Mistakes in Naruto That True Fans Were Quick to Spot Out

  • 

    The Quark In The Road

    Most recent post: An Ode to National Crayon Day

  More from News: Opinion

• Read these ChicagoNow blogs

  • 

    Cubs Den

    Chicago Cubs news and comprehensive blog, featuring old school baseball writing combined with the latest statistical trends
    • Game Post 4/6
  • 

    Pets in need of homes

    Pets available for adoption in the Chicago area
    • Migaloo — Petraits Rescue
  • 

    Hammervision

    It’s like the couch potato version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
    • Movie Review: Nomadland

• Read these ChicagoNow Bloggers

  • 

    Candace Jordan

    from Candid Candace:
    We got our first Covid-19 shot and this is what happened
  • 

    Dennis Byrne

    from The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor:
    Derek Chauvin is on trial. America is NOT
  • 

    LeaGrover

    from Becoming SuperMommy:
    Grieving Love with Intention
• Advertisement:

ChicagoNOW

• About ChicagoNow
• •
• FAQs
• •
• Advertise
• •
• Recent posts RSS
• •
• Privacy policy (Updated)
• •
• Comment policy
• •
• Terms of service
• •
• Chicago Tribune Archives
• •
• Do not sell my personal info

©2021 CTMG – A Chicago Tribune website –
Crafted by the News Apps team

Read More

JUST SAYIN

• About
• Subscribe by Email
• Archive

A Mayor’s Inherited Dilemma/ The 60 Year Fight for the Hearts and Minds of Chicago’s Youth/The Gang lure VS A Decent Society

Tweet

By BOB ANGONE,
today at 12:48 pm

These are the words of Thomas Hobbes. Some 380 years ago he was considered one of the founders of modern philosophy– “NO ARTS, NO LETTERS, NO SOCIETY, CONTINUAL FEAR OF VIOLENT DEATH, THE LIFE OF A MAN, SOLITARY, POOR, NASTY, BRUTISH AND SHORT.” Almost every day for over 60 years, I cannot help to think of those words when it comes to Chicago’s street gangs. The gang life, indeed for most, nasty, brutish, and above all short. It was as if Sir Hobbes had them in mind with those words. When it comes to the battle for the hearts and minds of young teens make no mistake the lure of the gangs is one powerful force. The Mayor of Chicago has vowed to uncover the person who she says was responsible for placing a gun in a teenager’s hand.

It’s not going to take a genius to know that it was a senior member of a street gang. Luring young teens into the gangster life has been the lifeline of Chicago’s street gangs for over 60 years. They use intimidation, attention, safe passage, and the chance to make some cash-hustling drugs and loosies. The chances to be part of the gang life sometimes are more appealing than they can handle at such a young age. Look at the ages of some of Chicago’s victims and it helps explain why the ongoing gang violence produces so many young victims year after year, decade after decade. Who is going to win the hearts and minds of these youngsters needs to be a priority in those communities where the gangs are the strongest and the most embolden. This is just the story of one teenager, he represents thousands over the years. His life may have ended in that alley and the hunt for blame of course is underway, but before we pass judgment one thing clearly stands out—there is lots of blame to go around. This is not an unfamiliar story.

Imagine this scenario, and I’m appealing to your common sense — you have no experience as a cop, but try to follow along with me. As you all know I was one for 33 years. Okay, ready! It’s 2:30 am that’s in the early morning hours for those of you are who might be in a foreign time zone. You’re assigned to a patrol car in a neighborhood that is heavily populated with gangs, the predominant one being the Almighty Latin Kings. Shootings and killings and gang activity are a 24 hour, sad to say, routine. At any given moment the proverbial shit can and often does hit the fan. The Chicago Police Department has a DEVICE called “THE SHOT SPOTTER.” It has the technology to detect gunfire anywhere in the city and also the location. When a Shot Spotter alert is triggered the Police Dispatcher immediately assigns a patrol car to investigate. A great tool for Law Enforcement, especially in a shooting gallery city like Chicago where shootings and murders are as common as traffic accidents.

Last week a Shot Spotter Alert triggered and a patrol car was immediately dispatched to the scene of the gunfire. The scene was an alley in a densely populated neighborhood on Chicago’s westside. Upon arrival the officers observed 2 individuals flee down the alley. Of course, the officers gave chase, what happened next was one of the individuals was shot and killed by one of the officers, shot in the chest, and pronounced dead. An automatic pistol was recovered and the second suspect was apprehended. The police officer is claiming self-defense. The video of the incident is being investigated by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability which is a routine investigation in all police-involved shootings. The individual who was shot had no identification or phone. He was listed by the Medical Examiner as John Doe.

The cops painstakingly checked for a missing person but to no avail. It has since been established that the deceased was a 13-year-old male who was reported missing by his mother but returned a few nights ago. No new missing report was made out. Chicago has strict curfew laws and a 13-year-old being out at 2:30 AM is a serious violation. Now imagine for a second it’s 2:30 AM and your the cop chasing an individual who is armed, does anyone actually think the cop even thought about a 13-year-old being out and about at that time? Would anyone be able to distinguish a 13-year-old male in pitch darkness from say a male in his 20s?

Well, this incident has led to, of course, front page hysterics and TV commentators practically shouting over the airwaves. Withholding judgment until all the facts are in doesn’t sell newspapers and cause high ratings for the TV stations. So the story has gained lots of attention. Photos of him when he was about 5 or 6 have appeared in all the local papers, supplied by a grieving mother, a go fund me has already collected 30 thousand dollars for the grieving family.

Lots to be learned for sure. Was the cop justified? What was a 13-year-old doing out at that time of the early morning with a gun? What was he doing in the company of a 21-year-old who is a known gang member? It takes a massive effort, a City, the communities, the police, the politicians, the Feds, the courts, and the judiciary, mentors, parents, and guardians. A war on gangs. Decency simply has to finally win out. If there is a plan in place it needs to be rinsed away and replaced, it’s clearly not working. The gangs are winning the violence has reached war zone numbers. All the sporadic outrage, anger, speeches, tears, and fictitious benevolence, are not stopping the emboldened gang’s intent on terrorizing entire communities with little or no resistance. Chicago’s gangs are a powerful force and power concedes nothing without a demand it never did and it never will. It’s time to make that demand. Gang violence is as deadly as a virus. Say NO to gangs needs to be a priority. IT TAKES A CITY—–

Filed under:
Uncategorized

Tweet

• Advertisement:

• Advertisement:

• 
  

  Welcome to ChicagoNow.

  Meet
  our bloggers,
  
  post comments, or
  
  pitch your blog idea.

  Sign in
  Pitch your idea
  Play games

• Meet The Blogger

  

  BOB ANGONE

  Bob Angone is a Marine VETERAN and a retired Chicago Police Lieutenant. He worked his entire Career covering the streets of Chicago as a Tactical Officer, Tactical Sergeant, and Tactical Lieutenant. His last assignments were in special Functions, he was the C/O of the CPD Swat teams his last five years and was an HBT (Hostage Barricade Terrorist) Sergeant for 10 years.

• Subscribe by Email

Completely spam free, opt out any time.

Facebook

Latest on ChicagoNow

• A Mayor’s Inherited Dilemma/ The 60 Year Fight for the Hearts and Minds of Chicago’s Youth/The Gang lure VS A Decent Society

  from JUST SAYIN by BOB ANGONE
  posted today at 12:48 pm

• Derek Chauvin is on trial. America is NOT

  from The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor by Dennis Byrne
  posted today at 11:33 am

• Masterpiece

  from Free Your Mind by Tiffany Grant
  posted today at 8:39 am

• Chicago Now’s Best Posts of March 2021

  from Margaret Serious by Margaret H. Laing
  posted Tuesday at 6:49 pm

• Game Post 4/6

  from Cubs Den by Sean Holland
  posted Tuesday at 4:35 pm

Posts from related blogs

• 

  Where Are We Going So Fast?

  Most recent post: A Coincidental Conversation about “Jesus Christ Superstar” (and more) with Ted Neeley

• 

  Retired in Chicago

  Most recent post: The overused exclamation point!!!

• 

  Academic Ink-lings

  Most recent post: A power shift–kids are questioning experts on climate change at KCS II (town hall format) on 4/13

More from Lifestyle: Opinion

Read these ChicagoNow blogs

• 

  Cubs Den

  Chicago Cubs news and comprehensive blog, featuring old school baseball writing combined with the latest statistical trends
  • Game Post 4/6
• 

  Pets in need of homes

  Pets available for adoption in the Chicago area
  • Migaloo — Petraits Rescue
• 

  Hammervision

  It’s like the couch potato version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
  • Movie Review: Nomadland

Read these ChicagoNow Bloggers

• 

  Candace Jordan

  from Candid Candace:
  We got our first Covid-19 shot and this is what happened
• 

  Dennis Byrne

  from The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor:
  Derek Chauvin is on trial. America is NOT
• 

  LeaGrover

  from Becoming SuperMommy:
  Grieving Love with Intention

Advertisement:

ChicagoNOW

• About ChicagoNow
• •
• FAQs
• •
• Advertise
• •
• Recent posts RSS
• •
• Privacy policy (Updated)
• •
• Comment policy
• •
• Terms of service
• •
• Chicago Tribune Archives
• •
• Do not sell my personal info

©2021 CTMG – A Chicago Tribune website –
Crafted by the News Apps team

Read More

A semitrailer that was struck by a hit-and-run driver early Wednesday rolled over and then caught fire as crews dragged it off the Dan Ryan Expressway.

The driver of a black Lexus rear-ended the semi about 3 a.m. in the outbound lanes near 55th Street, according to Illinois State Police.

The collision caused the semi to become unstable and roll over, state police spokeswoman Elizabeth Clausing said in a statement. The driver of the Lexus ran from the scene.

As the semi was relocated off the interstate, the vehicle caught fire and was extinguished by the Chicago Fire Department, Clausing said. No injuries were reported.

Outbound lanes were closed until about 4:50 a.m., Clausing said.

Read More