In a newly released video, authorities are shown entering the wrong house, interrogating children without an adult present, and even pointing their guns at the innocent children.
What We Know:
- According to Local station CBS 2, the leaked footage is part of an ongoing investigation about wrong raids by the Chicago Police Department. The station showed clips of two attacks on Krystal Archie’s house last year and it showed officers shouting and pointing guns at children.
- Archie opened up about the incident saying, “They’re handling heavy artillery…It would’ve taken one slip of your finger and my children would not be here.”
- CBS 2 said that the family’s home was raided a total of three times. The first time was in February, the second time in April, and the last time was in May of last year. The police said that they were on the hunt for a man named Archie. Her family said they don’t know or never had any history of knowing this man.
- Video from the April 26 raid showed the armed police entering the home at 8:30 pm and busting down the door with a battering ram. Inside was a frightened 14-year-old Savannah Archie who was babysitting her younger siblings 11-year-old Telia and seven-year-old JJ. The children immediately hit the floor and one of them started crying. Savannah says with tears running down her face, “I didn’t do nothing… Please do not shoot me, please, please!” She also shouted, “You’re not going to do this again!” in reference to the first raid in February in which the officer responded, “shut up”.
- The 14-year-old stated that officers had guns in their faces and their hands on the trigger as if they were ready to shoot.
- In the video, the police can be heard saying “where the stuff is at…So you stopped selling out of here? You stopped keeping it here?” During the interrogation, the children’s mother was at work. This family, like others before, have filed a federal lawsuit against the city after the authorities wrongfully raided their homes.
- One resident, Stephanie Bures took legal action when a dozen officers ransacked her South Side home and threatened party-goers at her son’s fourth birthday party last March. It was later revealed that the suspect that they were looking for hadn’t lived in the residence for years.
- Another incident involved Domonique Wilson. She and her children were forced out of their home by a Chicago officer and they even arrested her 8-year-old son. Wilson’s son Royal Smart said, “they made me stand up straight and put my hands just behind my back. And they had them tight…I was worried about my sister most because she’s only 6 years old.”
- CBS 2 has been investigating the botched raids for 18 months nows and the investigations have resulted in little to no answers. The police agency has blocked access to public records and declined Freedom of Information Act requests.
- The department says it is taking the steps to address the issue of the wrong raids starting with an overhaul of its search warrant policy. The main changes the department is making will include officer training on how to handle raids especially when juveniles are present. Another requirement is that two body cams are meant to activate and remain on during the entire interrogation.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the Chicago Police Department for comment and is awaiting a response.
