Chicago investigating officers 'lounging' during unrest

CHICAGO (AP) — More than a dozen Chicago police officers and supervisors were captured on video “lounging” inside a burglarized congressional campaign office and even appeared to be making popcorn and brewing coffee as people vandalized and stole from nearby businesses as protests and unrest spread across the city, a visibly angry Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, a Democrat whose district includes much of the city's South Side and southern suburbs, said his staff first viewed the video and he brought it to Lightfoot on Wednesday.

The footage was taken on May 31 and early June 1, as police received widespread reports of vandalism, theft and arson in neighborhoods on the city's South and West sides, officials said. Chicago, like other U.S. cities, saw large protests overshadowed by criminal activity in the days following George Floyd's death in custody after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into the black man's neck for several minutes.

Lightfoot, who described herself as “angry” and “disgusted” by the actions shown on video, said the department's Internal Affairs division and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability are investigating.

https://news.yahoo.com/chicago-investigating-officers-lounging-during-202511818.html