Video released of Chicago police 'lounging' at US congressman's office and making popcorn while nearby shops looted
Images have emerged of Chicago police officers kicking their feet up on desks, making popcorn, and brewing coffee in the burglarised district office of US Congressman Bobby Rush last month as rioters were looting nearby stores, the congressman announced at a joint press conference with Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
About two weeks ago, Mr Rush received a call that his South Side district office had been vandalised.
When he later reviewed the video surveillance footage, he saw that at least eight Chicago police officers, at least three of whom were supervisors, had entered his office and lingered there while looting was ravaging a nearby shopping centre.
“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 and within their reach,” Mr Rush said at the press conference on Thursday.
It was not immediately clear whether the officers in Mr Rush's office had been ordered to stand down to the looters. A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department could not immediately be reached for comment.
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