2 more settlements tied to allegations of police abuse, botched raid

Chicago taxpayers will spend $575,000 to settle two more cases tied to allegations of police abuse, one of them a raid on the wrong home that terrified a sleeping couple and their children.

Both settlements are on the agenda for the City Council’s Finance Committee meeting Monday.

Ashanti Franklin and her family will receive $175,000 for the botched raid in March 2017.

Franklin, her husband and two children were asleep in their beds on the second level of their West Side home when they heard a pounding at the door around 6 a.m. She looked out the window and saw “several white males” she didn’t recognize in hooded sweatshirts and jackets, her lawsuit stated.

The plainclothes officers told her who they were looking for and that they had a warrant for his arrest. She told them they had the wrong house, but they broke down the door, her lawsuit stated.

Four plainclothes officers entered the family’s apartment with guns drawn, including an assault rifle. They held Ashanti Franklin and her daughter at gunpoint near the front door. The other three officers searched the apartment while the couple’s 12-year-old son was still in his bedroom.

When Ashanti Franklin asked to see the warrant and demanded the officers give her their names and badge numbers, they refused, the lawsuit stated.

“You see six white dudes outside your door, you should’ve known to open the door,” the lawsuit quotes one of the officers as saying.

“The officers eventually realized Mrs. Franklin was right. They had the wrong house. The officers then left, leaving a broken door and shaken family. Since the events of that morning, plaintiffs allege that Chicago police officers have repeatedly harassed the family, including ‘making disrespectful remarks to Mr. Franklin.’”

The city plans to pay $400,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Pamela Anderson over the death of her son in September 2015.

James Anderson suffered from what the lawsuit called a “mild mental illness and was on medication to control his symptoms.” At 8:50 p.m. on Sept. 25, 2015, Pamela Anderson called 911 after her son stopped taking his medication, became confused and stopped paying attention to his personal hygiene.

She told the responding officers that her son “may be carrying a box cutter but was not violent, had no history of violent behavior,” the lawsuit said. James Anderson needed an escort to the hospital to have his medication regulated, the lawsuit said.

One of the officers knocked on the son’s bedroom door.

“When James Anderson emerged from his bedroom, he was carrying the box cutter that Pamela Anderson described to the officers. He did not move in a threatening manner. Suddenly and without warning, James Anderson was shot and killed,” the lawsuit stated.