Chicago City Council to hold hearings on alleged police torture

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

The City Council will hold hearings on a special prosecutor’s “whitewash” report into police torture by former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge, thanks to a resolution co-signed today by 26 aldermen.

The resolution originated with the City Council’s 19-member Black Caucus, but seven other aldermen signed on. They now have the majority vote they need to push the issue — even if Mayor Daley objects.

“They can look into anything they want. . . . That’s up to them. I was not the mayor or superintendent during all of that time,” said Daley, who was state’s attorney during the 1980s, when some of the alleged torture was taking place.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) would not go so far as to call the report a whitewash, as a coalition of civil rights groups did in a recent report.

But, she said, “Members of the Black Caucus in particular — but, we had 26 signators, so it’s more than simply the Black Caucus — are very anxious to hear from the special state’s attorneys about the methods of investigation and their findings. I’ll leave it at that.”

Attorney Flint Taylor accused special prosecutors Edward Egan and Robert Boyle of throwing Daley “16-inch softballs” when they questioned him about his failure as state’s attorney to follow up on a 1982 letter from then-Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek that strongly suggested abuse in the case of accused cop killer Andrew Wilson.

“It’s not just the deferential questioning of Mayor Daley and Mayor Daley’s role and [current State’s Attorney Dick] Devine’s role. There are questions about reparations for victims, the fact that many are still in jail, the fact that the city has backed out of a settlement agreement for some of the victims. There are all sorts of issues that can be answered in this chamber,” said Taylor, who attended today’s Council meeting and represents some of the alleged torture victims.

Still no word yet on hearings on Chicago's most famous cop.