Page 11 - SEPTEMBE 2018 Newsletter

the one who got a $2.5 settlement out of nowhere, is now filing another lawsuit based upon another warrant served by a dif- ferent group of police officers, claiming — drum roll, please — traumatized children.
And Hofeld has another powerful weapon in his arsenal: a media willing to serve as his public relations outlet. Just after Hofeld won a big settlement in the Simmons case claiming that a child was traumatized when police served a warrant, he came back with another one, this time with the help of CBS 2 Chicago reporter Dave Savini, that included:
Guns were drawn, even on small children, when Chicago offi- cers raided a family’s home. Dave Savini is investigating why this happened and how this family will never be the same.
“One guy said, ‘You better shut the F up if you know any better,’” said Peter Mendez.
Peter was 9 when the trauma began. It was dinnertime when Chicago police busted his front door open, invading his family’s home.
“Assault rifles, maybe like a few pistols,” Peter recalled.
His little brother Jack was by his side that night, shaking with fear. Savini also spoke with Jack.
Savini: “They pointed a gun at your dad and your mom?” Jack: “Yeah.”
Savini: “And then did they point a gun at your brother?” Jack nodded yes.
Savini: “What was it like when that gun was pointed at you?” Peter: “It was like my life just flashed before my eyes.”
Mom and dad say cops screamed profanities at the family as
they tore the house apart and ordered them all to the floor at gun-
point.
This was a warrant signed by a judge, based on the state- ments of an informant. It was perfectly legal. Are officers now not supposed to draw their weapons when serving warrants if they suspect that children are in the house?
And it’s important to touch on a side note about Dave Savini. A notoriously anti-police campaigner, Savini is currently en- gaged in a vicious attack on a police officer who was dragged under a car during a traffic stop on the South Side. The driver of that car was charged with attempted murder. In his coverage of the case, Savini has transformed the officer into the villain, claiming excessive force and unlawful arrest by the officer.
Savini also has covered stories originating from a disgraced former professor at Northwestern University, David Protess, who left the school in 2010 after the university admitted he had lied about wrongful conviction cases, most of them based on al- legations of police misconduct. Despite the scandal surround- ing Protess’ cases, neither Savini nor his employer appear to have been willing to take a second look at them.
But all of this brings us back to Notz’s claims that the City should settle these cases. Notz and the City attorneys have opened up an entirely new revenue stream for attorneys suing the City — a City that has already paid some $700 million in po- lice misconduct cases, many of them as absurd as the Engle- wood Four.
Couple this policy with Mayor Emanuel’s pursuit of a consent decree that will make policing even more difficult in Chicago, and the perfect criminal storm is taking shape.
Right before an election. d
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