George Floyd protests and ongoing pandemic push attorneys to provide free counsel
By Sidnee King and Emine Yücel Medill Reports As hundreds of protesters wait in jails across the country after a weekend of raucous demonstrations, lawyers from Chicago to Los Angeles are taking to social media, offering free counsel. Legal professionals say pro bono work is especially important given that the pandemic is still ravaging the […]
CPD’s ongoing battle with mental health calls
By Emine Yücel Medill Reports CHICAGO — In September 1987, answering a 911 call, Memphis police officers found a man stabbing himself more than 100 times with a butcher knife at LeMoyne Gardens, a public housing project. When police approached, they said, the man swung the knife towards them and they shot and killed him. […]
Child killer charged: ‘He’s gone forever. He was just a 9-year-old boy.’
By Thomas Vogel The man charged Monday for the grisly killing of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee in November made incriminating statements while in police custody, boasting about the murder and describing plans to write a rap song about it, city and county officials revealed Tuesday. During a press conference at Chicago police headquarters, however, authorities declined to […]
Proposed law aims to take sting out of police spy-tech
By Thomas Vogel State lawmakers are working to prevent local law enforcement agencies conducting investigations from violating the privacy of Chicagoans. Any resident using a phone to place a call, send a text message or browse the web may be at risk. “Stingrays,” refer to a broad category of so-called cell site simulator devices, which, […]
