The Cost of Judging by Character in Chicagoland: $22.5 Million

"...might as well have released her into the lions’ den at Brookfield Zoo”-- No, black-areas of Chicago are far more dangerous...

Nothing much to say about life in increasingly non-white Chicago, a vision of the future for all of America where white people have virtually no say in the government (save funding it through ever-greater taxes), that can be said in this one article [City to pay $22.5 million to bipolar woman released in high-crime area, Chicago Sun-Times, 1-15-13]:

Chicago taxpayers will spend $22.5 million to compensate a mentally-ill California woman who was arrested and held overnight, then released in a high-crime neighborhood, where she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted before falling from a seventh-floor window of a CHA high-rise.

The settlement to Christina Eilman, now 27, is one of the largest to a single plaintiff in Chicago history — and $4.5 million more than the $18 million paid to the family of LaTanya Haggerty, one of two unarmed civilians shot to death by Chicago Police in 1999 after high-speed chases during the same summer weekend.

The $22.5 million settlement is on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council’s Finance Committee, which must approve the payment.

A former UCLA student, Eilman was arrested in May 2006 after allegedly creating a disturbance at Midway Airport. At the time, she was suffering from a bi-polar breakdown.

She was taken to the Wentworth District police station, 5101 S. Wentworth, where she was held overnight and continued to behave erratically.

The following day, despite frantic calls from her parents, Eilman was released without assistance or instruction into a high-crime neighborhood while dressed in short shorts and a cut-off top.

She was subsequently lured into the last remaining high-rise at the Robert Taylor homes, where she was sexually assaulted before falling from a seventh-floor window.
Eilman suffered a devastating brain injury and several broken bones, including a shattered pelvis. She now requires around-the-clock care and lives with her parents in California.

City attorneys had initially argued that Chicago Police officers were not responsible for Eilman’s injuries and that the then-21-year-old woman seemed cogent when a police sergeant interviewed her after her arrest.

But that was before several other police officers gave sworn depositions in the case saying they saw signs of the young woman’s mental illness.

The other officers also acknowledged under oath that a supervisor had ordered arresting officers to take Eilman to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation, but that there was no vehicle available for the transport.

An even more devastating blow to the city’s case came last spring.

That’s when a federal appeals court rejected the city’s attempt to dismiss the case and said police “might as well have released her into the lions’ den at Brookfield Zoo” when they ignored frantic calls from Eilman’s parents and allowed the young woman to leave without assistance in the high-crime neighborhood.

In the federal appeals court ruling that turned about to be the death knell of the city’s case, Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook did not mince his words in talking about the cavalier disregard that Chicago Police officers exhibited for Eilman’s safety before her release.

“She was lost, unable to appreciate her danger and dressed in a manner to attract attention,” Easterbrook wrote last spring.

“She is white and well-off while the local population is predominantly black and not affluent, causing her to stand out as a person unfamiliar with the environment and, thus, a potential target for crime.”

"Released her into a lions' den... 'white and well-off while the local population is predominantly black...'"? Talk about an understanding of the type of environment black people create, though I think comparing an all-black area in Chicago to a lions den is an affront to zoo animals who have been tamed.

So, do you think Chicago will have to borrow the money to settle this suit - all because we refuse to acknowledge race - just as they did because black people can't pass a firefighter exam[City To Borrow Nearly $80M To Settle 1995 Firefighters’ Exam Lawsuit, CBS Chicago, 1-23-12]?