Keith Thornton: Chicago cop calls Lori Lightfoot ‘disgrace’ in video amid crime surge
A police dispatcher has slammed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as murders hit a 25-year high. In a Facebook video post, Keith A Thornton Jr also slammed Superintendent of Police David Brown for failing to support the department. Thornton said that he felt forced to make the video after “several of my officers texted me that they were scared... They have no backing and they're scared of being out there by themselves, working in the 16th District.”
The dispatcher explained that the force in the district, which is in the northwest of the city, was so “shorthanded” that if someone called 911 for help “officers are not coming to you.” “A shooting came up a few days ago and we couldn't even get a unit over there. A unit could not even get to that scene until 10 plus minutes later because there was no one,” Thornton said in the social media video shared on December 24.
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The video came out as three people were fatally shot and 22 were wounded in Chicago on Christmas weekend. On December 25, Giovanni Lozano, 24, was found dead with a gunshot wound in Logan Square on the Northwest Side at 10:40 in the night. Two days later, on December 26, 37-year-old Clifford Jeffrey was fatally shot at East Garfield Park and Monday, December 27, saw the death of an unidentified 30-year-old man, who was murdered while walking on the sidewalk in Little Village on the Southwest Side.
But Lightfoot has not yet commented on the killings and instead chose to share a video on Twitter wishing people a “joyous Kwanzaa”. On December 26, she said while her wife Amy Eshleman sat beside her, “Amy and I wish to extend a very beautiful and prosperous Kwanzaa to all of you celebrating this season. As you prepare for your Kwanzaa celebrations, I urge you to keep these values in mind. May the light of peace bring happiness to your home as we wish you the warmth and togetherness of Kwanzaa.”
Thornton called out Lightfoot for her silence and blamed her for being selfish. He stated: “I'm hot about it because this mayor does not care about Chicago police officers, period. She doesn't care about any first responders. She does not care about the city. It doesn't matter if you're White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, other, straight, gay, Democrat, or Republican. She don't even care about her city workers. All that lady cares about is her f**king self.”
“And I pray you're watching this because you're a disgrace and I'm tired of it. And your city is tired of it. Matter of fact, it's not your city. The city of Chicago is tired of it. And I know you don't like me, and that's OK, because I love you but I'm tired of you because you're an absolute disgrace to everyone within the city,” he noted before reminding the politician to “stand up” and “do something up”. “We've got to come together for our area because this is bulls**t,” Thornton concluded the video while referring to the city officials.
Thornton received support from people online as a user wrote below his post, “Bro run for Mayor and Send LightFoot packing and running for the Hill!” Another user commented, “Mayor Lightfoot is a Joke. She is just as bad as Mayor Deblaso (sic) in NYC. No Support of Public Safety whatsoever. The only people who are suffering are the GOOD hard working People.”
A person said, “I don't understand why can't she be pulled out of office? She has turned our city to crap.” The second one added: “Thank you Keith. For those that don't understand how patrol is organized and how districts are divided into beats, this helps them understand. better.”