by Thomas Catenacci (Daily Caller)
Police officers allegedly entered Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush’s campaign office in Chicago and lounged while riots took place outside the office’s doors, Rush said Thursday.
Several Chicago officers entered Rush’s office late on May 31, lounged with their feet on desks, made coffee and ate popcorn, Rush said, citing security footage. The was reportedly crime in the area over the death of George Floyd at the time, he added, according to The New York Times.
Floyd died May 25 after a former Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for about nine minutes, video of the arrest showed.
The Chicago police union disputed the campaign office incident, saying that Rush’s staff gave permission to use the office to the police officers. The union also said the news conference with Rush and Lightfoot was politically motivated.
“She has an agenda. She has motives,” John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Chicago, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It was absolutely ridiculous what she was trying to spin this into.”
Chicago officers relaxed in a congressman’s office for four hours while looting & arson unfolded outside.@RepBobbyRush told me the cops entered without permission, took naps, made popcorn & left him $1.
“It made me feel totally disrespected.”https://t.co/YngPUzGqHg pic.twitter.com/BJ1XOpkNtc
— Luke Broadwater☀️ (@lukebroadwater) June 11, 2020
Rush joined Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown in condemning the officers’ alleged actions at a news conference.
“You’re not serving and protecting when you make movie popcorn and put up your feet while your fellow officers are getting the hell beat out of them just a few doors away,” Lightfoot said, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Brown apologized on behalf of his department.
“Let’s now be the good cops who hold the bad cops accountable by rooting them out of this profession,” he said he told his staff, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Rush said the police officers left a single dollar bill in the office, TheNYT reported.
“It made me feel totally disrespected as a member of Congress and an African-American male,” he said.
The Chicago Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
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