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Chicago cops turned their backs on Mayor Lori Lightfoot when she went to a hospital after two of their colleagues were shot, one fatally – and a former cop lambasted progressive politics for the dead.
Officer Ella French, 29, is the first Windy City cop killed since Lightfoot became mayor in 2019, but city officers have faced a spate of gunfire in the past two years.
French and his partner were hit by gunfire in the city’s southern neighborhood on Saturday after they pulled over a car for expired plates, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Emonte Morgan, 21, and his brother Eric Morgan, 22, both convicted of felons, have been charged in the blatant attack.
About 30 base officers dismissed Lightfoot on Saturday when she presented to the University of Chicago Medical Center and approached them while they were watching, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. .
When Lightfoot attempted to speak with the injured officer’s father, himself a retired cop, he lambasted the mayor and blamed her for what happened earlier in the day, the newspaper two sources on the scene.
And when she then tried to comfort the mourning officers nearby, they pulled away and turned their backs on her, the sources told the outlet.
“They did an about-face – it looked like it had been choreographed,” one of the sources said, adding that the display was “amazing”.
Lightfoot, who a source said appeared shaken, then came down to speak to the media about the shooting.
“The policemen’s decision to turn their backs on the mayor while waiting with the family on the 7th floor was significant,” John Catanzara, chief of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Turning your back on the mayor is a prime example of how the hundreds of police officers who waited outside the hospital felt,” Catanzara said, adding that the police no longer supported his leadership.
Meanwhile, City Alderman Anthony Napolitano, a former policeman and city firefighter, said he didn’t believe Democrat Lightfoot was entirely anti-police – but progressive politics were to blame.
“I never saw her as an anti-police activist. But I’ll put that 550% on those socialists and progressives in city council. This blood is on their hands, without a doubt, ”Napolitano told The Sun-Times.
“They are the ones who created this whole anti-police movement that made these brazen acts of violence against the police [possible] – 39 this year alone. It’s created by them, ”he said.
Alderman Matt O’Shea, the Lightfoot handpicked chairman of the city council’s aviation committee, said he was not surprised how she received the cold shoulder on Saturday.
“They are at a breaking point. Obviously, our police have been under siege, underestimated and thrown under the bus for a year and a half. They feel – and rightly so – that the leaders of this country, this city are not supporting them, ”O’Shea told the Sun-Times.
“Everyone who was working Saturday night when those calls came over the radio and found out what had happened to their co-workers – it’s a tipping point. And it’s a tipping point that many of us have been waiting for as the incredible violence we see in communities across town, where criminals have absolutely no respect for human life, no fear of the consequences of their lives. actions, ”he said.
“To shoot two Chicago cops point blank.” We are a city in crisis, ”added O’Shea.
When asked what message Lightfoot should receive from the disdain shown by the soldiers and the injured cop’s father, he said: “I hope she understands that the police in this town feel that the leadership has failed. the back. This is what I hear. This is what I have been hearing for a long time.
In a statement released on Monday, the mayor’s office said Lightfoot “was present in the emergency room to offer support and condolences” but admitted “emotions run high.”
“In a time of tragedy, emotions run high and that’s to be expected. The mayor spoke to a range of officers that tragic night and felt the overwhelming feeling was about the concern of their fallen colleagues, ”he said.
“As the mayor said… now is not the time for divisive and toxic rhetoric or reporting. Now is the time for us to come together as a city. We have a common enemy and these are the conditions that breed violence and manifestations of violence, namely illegal guns and gangs, ”the statement added.
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