A jury has awarded $5.7 million in a verdict concerning allegations of excessive force during a 2018 Chicago police raid in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. The case centered around the treatment of children by the police.
This is an update to a developing story. Below is information from an earlier report.
After three weeks of deliberations, the jury has been tasked with determining if SWAT officers used excessive force against the Tate children during the execution of a search warrant nearly eight years ago. The jury is also considering whether the city of Chicago perpetuated such behavior by not holding its officers accountable.
The trial began on February 3, and since then, jurors have listened to testimonies from nearly all individuals present in the Back of the Yards apartment on August 9, 2018. On that day, the Chicago Police Department’s SWAT team executed a search warrant at the Tate family residence, looking for a suspect who was neither residing there nor connected to the family.
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During closing arguments on Tuesday, Al Hofeld, representing the Tate family, stated, “This case is about young children in their own home with their family, doing nothing wrong, with guns pointed at them in a military operation by police in their own city.”
Hofeld argued that nine officers forcibly entered the Tate home without warning, aiming firearms at four young children and causing trauma to them, their mother, and grandmother. He emphasized that this incident is a continuation of the pattern identified by the U.S. Justice Department in 2017, which cited the Chicago Police Department for a “pattern or practice of using force, including deadly force, that is unreasonable, in violation of the Fourth Amendment.” He attributed these actions to the city’s failure to adequately train and hold its officers accountable.
But while the Justice Department’s findings are not in dispute, this particular case is not clear-cut. There is no footage from body-worn cameras, as they were not required at the time. Counsel for the officers and the city dispute most of what the Tate family alleges, from the way in which SWAT team members entered the home to the officers’ behavior during the execution of the warrant.
“Not a single one of them pointed a rifle at any of the plaintiffs… Not a single of them unlawfully detained the plaintiffs,” said Lawrence Kowalczyk, the officers’ attorney, adding the officers had years of training in use of force and that, “Those men are the best of the best.”
That is something, the officers’ attorney said, was on full display during what was the execution of what was a dual warrant: One for the Tate’s apartment and one next door, which is ultimately where SWAT team members located their target.
The jury is expected to deliberate until 5 p.m. Tuesday and return Wednesday, when it is expected they will return a verdict.
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