Chicago police officers made popcorn and coffee and even took naps in the campaign office of a local congressman as looting raged outside during recent unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush said during a news conference Thursday that after his South Side campaign office was burglarized, security footage showed at least eight officers “lounging” there while looters moved on to a nearby shopping center, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“One was asleep on my couch in my campaign office,” Rush said. “They even had the unmitigated gall to go and make coffee for themselves and to pop popcorn — my popcorn, in my microwave — while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight, within their reach. They were in a mode of relaxation, and they did not care about what was happening to businesspeople, to this city. They didn’t care. They absolutely didn’t care.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot added: “We should all be disgusted. We should all feel hurt and betrayed. These officers were lounging in a congressman’s office having a little hangout for themselves while small businesses on the South Side were looted and burned, while their colleagues were getting bottles thrown at their heads and doing everything they could to protect these communities.”
More from Vice: Chicago was particularly hard-hit by looting, as looters took advantage of widespread and mostly peaceful protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s killing to wreak havoc on the city. Rush, a co-founder and former leader of the Illinois Black Panther Party, has a long, fraught history with the Chicago Police Department that he recently discussed with VICE News. Police killed Rush’s friend, Panthers leader Fred Hampton, in 1969, a slaying he’s long described as a murder.
