Chicago police bodycam video shows what went down when cops on Feb. 1 pulled over a Lexus belonging to Yolanda Talley, their new chief of internal affairs.
While Talley wasn’t in the vehicle, her niece was — along with a male passenger who tried to ditch 84 packets of heroin valued at $6,300, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing police records and a source familiar with the investigation.
What does the video show?
WLS-TV said it obtained the bodycam video under the Freedom of Information Act. It shows the woman who was driving the silver Lexus telling officers that her police officer aunt owns the vehicle and that “my auntie probably your boss.”
The station, citing documents it obtained from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, reported the car indeed belongs to Talley and that her niece was driving it at the time of the traffic stop.
Chicago police confirmed to WLS that Talley remains chief of internal affairs and that the case was referred to the office of the inspector general to investigate any potential misconduct.
Neither the police department’s spokesman nor Talley will comment on the case, the station said, adding that the inspector general’s investigation likely will take months to complete.
What’s the background?
The traffic stop in the 500 block of North St. Louis Avenue occurred after officers in a gang investigations unit targeting drug sales spotted a man in a black mask picking up a bag near a black SUV and entering the passenger side of a four-door silver Lexus, the Sun-Times said in a previous story, citing a police report.
Officers said they stopped the car because the driver failed to use a turn signal, the Sun-Times said, adding that the passenger tossed a baggie containing 84 pink packets of heroin out of the window. Police said they recovered about 42 grams of heroin worth about $6,300, the paper added.
Police arrested the passenger — 34-year-old Kenneth Miles — for possession of a controlled substance, a felony, the paper said. But Talley’s niece was let go because there wasn’t clear evidence linking her to the heroin, the source told the Sun-Times.
Court records indicate that Talley’s niece lives with Miles, the paper said, adding that he’s a reputed member of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang and that court records show he has a lengthy criminal record that includes seven drug-related convictions.
Miles on Feb. 1 was free on bail in connection to a separate felony case for allegedly selling fentanyl, the Sun-Times said, adding that the Cook County sheriff’s office said he was being held in jail without bail.
High-ranking police officials decided not to impound Talley’s car, even though that’s the routine procedure for cars stopped during narcotics arrests so they can be searched for guns and drugs, the paper said.
With that, officers drove Talley’s Lexus back to the block where the arrest took place and returned the keys to her niece, the source told the Sun-Times.
The source added to the paper that “knowing what we know, I don’t think Chief Yolanda Talley had any idea what was going on with her car.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot weighs in
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was concerned about media coverage “which seems to intimate that chief Talley had some involvement in what happened,” the Chicago Tribune reported, adding that Lightfoot also said she’s seen “seen zero evidence to substantiate that. What I know of her is she is very hardworking, very well regarded, and does her job with integrity.”