‘They Called Children Liars … And They Lost Big’: Jury Awards $5.7 Million to Black Family Terrorized in Botched Raid by Chicago Police
A federal jury believed a Black family that said they were traumatized during a Chicago Police Department SWAT team raid on their home in 2018 and awarded them $5.7 million in damages.
On August 9, 2018, nine members of the SWAT team searching for a known gang member, guns and drugs set off flash-bang grenades and used a prybar to break down the front door of the Southside Chicago apartment without knocking, finding Ebony Tate, her four young children and their grandmother, Cynthia Eason inside.
They aimed guns at Tate’s face and repeatedly pointed them at her children, Eason testified during the three-week trial at a federal courthouse in Chicago in February. They also forced Eason, who was undressing to take a bath, outside in just a t-shirt and underwear.
Tate suffered a panic attack and was treated by paramedics while officers searched her home, records show, WTTW reported.
The officers, who were not wearing body cameras, had search warrants to look for the suspect and contraband, which an informant had told them was kept at Tate’s home. They found neither, and arrested the suspect at the house next door the same day.
The family’s complaint said the police use of excessive force in the botched raid was part of a longstanding pattern and practice of Chicago Police Department to engage in this type of action and then cover it up.
Lawyers for the family argued that a “code of silence” kept officers from reporting and testifying about wrongdoing by other officers, preventing officials from holding them accountable for misconduct.
The raid happened before the Chicago Police Department was placed under a federal consent decree mandating sweeping changes, including reforms to its policies and practices for executing search warrants, reported the Chicago Sun-Times.
Those reforms were enacted after other troubling police raids drew media coverage and public outrage. Anjanette Young, who was naked when Chicago police stormed her apartment and handcuffed her in 2019, became a crusader against the use of no-knock warrants. She settled with the city for $2.9 million in 2021.
In court, attorneys for the police disputed nearly every aspect of the family’s allegations, saying SWAT team members did knock and announce themselves before breaking in.
“They did not point their guns at the children, not for one second,” the city’s attorney said in court.
Because there was no body camera footage of the raid, the eight jurors had to weigh the testimony of the family against that of the nine police officers involved.
After deliberating for five and a half hours on Feb. 25, jurors found there was a pattern by Chicago Police officers of using excessive force against children and violating citizens’ rights while serving search warrants and that the city knew about it. The jurors held the city liable for their conduct.
Tate’s four children —E’Monie, La’niya, Legend and Lakai’ya Booth, who were ages 13, 11, 8 and 4 years old at the time of the incident — were awarded $1 million each in compensatory damages, according to the verdict. Tate and Eason were awarded $750,000 each in compensatory damages. An additional $240,000 in punitive damages was awarded to the family members against the officers, the Sun-Times reported.
The jury verdict cleared the city and all officers of allegations of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and unlawful imprisonment.
“There is a measure of justice,” Eason said, choking back tears at a post-verdict news conference. “The next family should not have to go through what we went through.”
“The city of Chicago put truth on trial over the last four weeks,” said Julian Johnson, one of the family’s attorneys. “They called children liars. They called the family liars. … They bet big and they lost big.”
The city’s Law Department said, “While we appreciate the jury’s work in this complex case, the City disagrees with the verdict and is exploring its options for post-trial motions.”
None of the officers involved in the raid have been found guilty of any misconduct or disciplined.