Live Blog: Two-day consent decree hearing comes to an end

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A plan for an elected civilian board to oversee the Chicago Police Department was rejected on Monday. | File photo

3:37 p.m. Two-day consent decree hearing comes to an end

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow quickly wrapped up his two-day public hearing on a proposed CPD consent decree after the last speaker Thursday.

“Thank you everybody for your time, your patience,” Dow said, “and the whole matter is under advisement still. Thank you so much. Everybody take care.”

3:30 p.m. ‘We shouldn’t have to teach police not to kill others. Children understand that much’

One of the final speakers at a two-day hearing over a proposed CPD consent decree began her remarks by telling the judge, “I wonder if it’s even worth wasting my breath.”

Taylore Norwood said the legal and justice system needs to show the people of Chicago that they matter. That they are “human beings that deserve respect and dignity.”

“We shouldn’t have to teach police not to kill others,” Norwood said. “Children understand that much.”

Norwood acknowledged being a police officer is a dangerous job. But she said the same can be said for being a construction worker or even a surgeon. And she said if they mess up, “they’re no longer in the business.” But when police mess up, she said “they get a slap on the wrist with paid administrative leave.”

She said police have “time after time destroyed homes of countless families.” She said they “are allowed to cover up murder after murder, rape and harassment alike, as if these people’s lives are a game.” And she said, “when they get off, they go home, they eat, they kiss their families, and they go to bed, comfortable.”

“How many bodies is too many for the Chicago Police Department?” she asked.

2:04 p.m. Man compliments judge: ‘You’re looking at everyone who’s speaking’

Larry Goldberg, a Lincoln Square resident, has had few run-ins with Chicago police. He said his dog once ran away, and an officer found the pooch for him.

“I’m not here to testify for the North Side of Chicago,” Goldberg told a federal judge Thursday. “I’m here to testify for the West Side and the South Side. Their experience with the police is completely different from my experience with the police. It’s a disaster.”

Goldberg appeared before U.S. District Judge Robert Dow as a two-day public hearing over a proposed CPD consent decree entered the second half of its second day. Goldberg said, “I think it’s a really hard job to be a police officer.” But he also said he found last year’s Justice Department report on CPD to be “incredibly, incredibly explicit and damning.”

He criticized police for insisting members of the public file sworn affidavits when complaining about officers. And he decried “the code of silence and the way that’s reinforced.”

Finally, as he wrapped up his comments, Goldberg complimented Dow, who has heard several hours of public testimony about CPD and the proposed consent decree.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking about,” Goldberg said. “But you’re looking at everyone who’s speaking.”

12:10 p.m. ‘That is exactly what impunity looks like’

A lawyer who helped secure the release of video depicting the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald asked a federal judge Thursday to consider transparency in a proposed CPD consent decree, and he attacked the Fraternal Order of Police for its stance toward this week’s two-day hearing.

Matt Topic told the judge that fellow officers tried to help Jason Van Dyke manufacture a story to justify Van Dyke’s shooting of McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014. Earlier this month, a jury found Van Dyke, a veteran police officer, guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated battery.

Topic said other officers helped Van Dyke “because those people felt secure enough to lie, or allow a lie to be perpetuated, even though they knew there was a video that showed what really happened.”

“Think about that for a minute,” Topic said. “They were so secure that they could do that, knowing that if the video was shown, everyone would know what really happened. That is impunity. That is exactly what impunity looks like.”

Three Chicago police officers face trial next month on charges they conspired to cover up the McDonald shooting. They have pleaded not guilty.

Topic has represented the Sun-Times in court on Freedom of Information Act requests.

11:34 a.m. Judge questions officer about gun-pointing

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow asked several logistical questions of a longtime Chicago police officer who spoke to him Thursday morning about what became a sticking point in consent decree negotiations — whether officers should document every time they point a gun at someone.

Officer Robert Bartlett, who said he spent more than a decade on the SWAT team, told the judge such a number could easily be taken out of context. He said he has often used a flashlight attached to his gun to search poorly lit buildings.

“Is somebody going to say without context, ‘is this officer using excessive force?’” Bartlett asked.

Bartlett said other officers wonder the same thing — and they don’t want to be dragged through the mud in the media.

In the midst of Bartlett’s comments, Dow began asking several questions about the use of flashlights, service weapons and body cameras — confirming how the officers point their weapons and whether officers have separate flashlights not attached to their guns. He also asked about the position of the body cameras officers wear.

“I suppose if the body camera’s recording that, there’s some context for you,” Dow said.

Bartlett, who is also a field representative for the Fraternal Order of Police, told the judge he was happy to provide more information if it would be helpful.

City Hall and Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office nearly asked Dow to settle the question about whether officers should document gun-pointing. It was the lone sticking point that remained when they released a draft of the consent decree last summer, but the two sides later hashed it out without judicial intervention.

10:56 a.m. Leader of Chicago FOP says ‘we are not perfect’ but opposes consent decree

The leader of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police had his chance to speak to the judge presiding over the consent decree hearing Thursday morning.

FOP President Kevin Graham said, “we are not perfect.” He said, “I no longer want bad police any more than anyone else in this room does.” But he also accused Attorney General Lisa Madigan of “going after” the FOP’s collective bargaining agreement with the city. And he said Chicago does “not need the consent decree.”

Graham told the judge that, in a typical collective bargaining negotiation, “the city gets something, we get something.” And he asked the judge, “are you going to give us a 30 percent raise to accommodate us for giving up the things that the city wants and not negotiate?”

In a rare interruption, U.S. District Judge Robert Dow told Graham, “I’m only going to do what the law permits me to do.”

Graham told the judge he has had the opportunity to speak to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and to visit President Donald Trump at the White House. He said he left the courthouse after the first day of testimony Wednesday feeling “fairly upset about some of the misstatements that had been made.”

He said “I believe that there are many people in this room who are very sincere in their beliefs and what they are saying.” But, he added, “I think they have a wrong narrative.”

10:53 a.m. Judge hears from family members of men shot by police

Family members of men shot and killed by Chicago Police officers helped kick off a second day of testimony Thursday in a hearing over a proposed CPD consent decree.

The first was Angelica Nieves. Her brother, 38-year-old Jose Nieves, was allegedly killed in January 2017 by Officer Lowell Houser. Houser was off-duty at the time and was later charged with Nieves’ murder. She said her brother had been stalked, harassed and threatened by the officer. And she said her brother was a “victim of the code of silence.”

“My only brother was taken,” Nieves said.

The judge next heard from Cynthia Lane. Her son, 19-year-old Roshad McIntosh, was killed by police in August 2014. Though police said McIntosh pointed a gun at officers, she later filed a lawsuit and said there was no other way to determine what really happened.

Lane told the judge Thursday that officers wouldn’t let her see her son’s body after he was shot.

“I just remember falling to my knees and crying and begging,” she said.

Lane also said officers promised at Mount Sinai Hospital to give her a copy of the police report. But she said they never did.

She told the judge, “the consent decree needs to help survivors.”

10:01 a.m. Second day of testimony begins after announcements from judge

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow began Thursday’s consent decree hearing at 9:47 a.m. with a short set of announcements, apologizing that not everyone who signed up to speak will have an opportunity.

However, the judge said that anyone who didn’t get a chance to speak can file their comments in writing by Nov. 2.

“You can literally just file the speech with the clerk’s office,” Dow said.

The judge also warned that any recording of the hearing is forbidden — “there was one incident with recording yesterday,” he said — and added that anyone caught recording would be asked to leave and possibly given a ticket.

With that, public testimony resumed. “I’m here to listen,” the judge said.

7:46 a.m. Second day of consent decree hearing set to begin

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow is set to spend another day hearing public comment about the proposed consent decree that would govern reform at the Chicago Police Department.

The session on Thursday is expected to close a historic two-day hearing at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse revolving around a document negotiated by City Hall and Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office. It would address virtually every aspect of policing in Chicago.

Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police has been sharply critical of the proposal. So has the Trump Administration.

People lined up early Wednesday to be selected for speaking slots. Only 20 slots were left available for Thursday’s session, and they are likely to be filled during an 8:30 a.m. lottery.

During Wednesday’s session, Dow heard from Chicagoans from all walks of life — Black Lives Matter, the Chicago Police Department, churches, law firms and community groups. Some of the nearly 50 speakers dropped names like Jon Burge, Fred Hampton and Jason Van Dyke. Some were police officers who told him they just want to keep the city safe.

Michael Harrington, a black Chicago native, said he was once arrested while wearing a suit and tie at a CTA train station in Lake View. A ticket agent thought he looked like a criminal who robbed and shot him. Harrington said six plain-clothes officers slammed him into a wall, took his keys and searched his home, later interrogating him and locking him in a cell. Eventually, he said police realized he had been preparing to testify at a Chicago City Council committee meeting at the time of the robbery. An officer told him simply, “you can go.”

“I took a bus home,” Harrington said. “Afraid, angry, and in silence.”

The first Chicago police officer to speak his mind Wednesday was John Catanzara, a 24-year veteran of the force. He wore his uniform to the courthouse, covered by a jersey-style sweatshirt that said “USA” on the front and “Trump 45” on the back. He chided Madigan for going after “low-hanging fruit” and developing the proposed consent decree in an “anti-police climate.”

Catanzara said people need to learn to respect a simple, race-neutral command: “stop now.”

“If you comply with the initial order,” he said, “It stops right then and there.”

“Until we start explaining to these kids that their personal choices have consequences, no consent decree is going to change anything,” he added.

However, Catanzara said he agrees with the consent decree’s proposed reforms to CPD’s training and disciplinary systems, acknowledging that he has faced discipline over the years. He also said he spoke for many members of CPD who felt they could not speak out “for various reasons.”

Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli told the judge CPD officers have abused her clients for years. She said they told her of arrests that ended in bruised wrists from tight handcuffs, broken fingers, black eyes and cuts to people’s faces.

“Each story was so similar, so consistent, I knew they were true,” Campanelli said.

She urged the judge to enter the consent decree to “foster some sense of trust and hope” in the communities largely affected by police use of force.

The judge also heard from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who invoked the name of Van Dyke, the Chicago Police officer recently found guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for the shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald.

“One man cannot be the fall guy for this criminal justice collapse,” Jackson said.

In the courthouse lobby, Jackson added that 50 years without a murder conviction for a Chicago officer was “evidence of how long” Chicago has had a problem with police. He said one conviction is not a final solution.

Near the end of Wednesday’s session, another longtime Chicago police officer spoke to the judge. Michael Garza said he had served in the Chicago Police Department for 25 years. He said “no piece of paper” could tell him how to do his job — or how to respect people.

He said, “there are dangerous people out there.”

“The crime that I’ve seen, it’s horrific,” he said. “I’ve seen the terrible things that they do out there. I’ve seen the terrible criminals who disrespect life.”

“I want my Chicago safe,” Garza told the judge. “And this is not the way to do it.”

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