The niece of a high-ranking Chicago police official tells officers that her aunt is probably their boss and not to worry as an officer drives away with a Lexus registered to the woman’s aunt during a drug arrest last month, as seen in body-camera footage recently released by the Chicago Police Department.
On Feb. 1, a drug arrest was made involving the niece and a Lexus that belonged to internal affairs Chief Yolanda Talley. The incident wasn’t immediately publicly disclosed by the department, which also has not detailed what role Talley played in making any report.
This led to public speculation on the incident that Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Superintendent David Brown have seen fit to comment on.
In the body-worn camera footage — obtain by the Tribune after a Freedom of Information Act equest — the woman, Talley’s niece, asked for her house keys after her passenger was put into handcuffs.
The officers told her that they can’t hand over the full ring of keys because they need the one for the car. The woman asked if they’re going to leave with the Lexus without letting her retrieve her items inside the car. One officer replied, saying they will drive away.
“Don’t worry about it cause my auntie’s probably your boss,” the woman said. “Don’t even worry about it.”
“I need my stuff. He got my keys! ... Y’all taking my auntie car for what? ... My auntie will come get it. My auntie is a police officer too. This is her car!”
“You playing now,” an officer replied.
“How am I playing?” she said as an officer drives off in the Lexus.
According to police reports, officers patrolling the area near Drake and Chicago avenues saw 34-year-old Kenneth Miles bend down to pick up a multicolored bag near a black Mitsubishi SUV. Miles then walked over to a silver Lexus and got in.
The Lexus drove away, eventually turning into an alley, and an officer activated the squad car’s lights and followed, the report said. Miles then allegedly threw the bag out the open passenger window.
Officers found that the bag had 84 pink-tinted baggies with heroin inside, the police report said. Miles was arrested at 11:25 a.m. in the 500 block of North St. Louis Avenue, records show.”
Talley’s niece was not arrested.
On Thursday, Brown said at an unrelated news conference that the department reported the matter for an investigation immediately and said there was “no evidence of any misconduct by Chief Talley.”
“Soon as we heard about the incident, we immediately forwarded the circumstances to the inspector general,” Brown said.
Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the city agency that tracks and investigates police misconduct, was notified within a day of the arrest, according to public records that were returned to the Tribune on Friday as part of an open records request. The sheet lists Talley as the accused member of the incident under investigation, and it lists Chief Ernest Cato, who heads the counterterrorism bureau and oversees the narcotics division, as the “reporting party” and “third party.”
Talley, who was not present at the time of the arrest, remains in her position.
Included in the documents is a letter dated Feb. 2 that COPA officials addressed to the city Inspector General’s office, referring the matter to that office for an investigation.
The letter sought consideration of the situation and “any action you deem appropriate, the complaint and attached materials received by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. The complainant includes alleged misconduct outside of COPA’s jurisdiction for OIG review,” the letter states.
While COPA is the official body for complaints against officers, it investigates mainly use-of-force incidents involving officers. The office Talley heads, internal affairs, also handles misconduct allegations, but her office would not have been able to investigate this incident.
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