Overview

• The Chicago City Council’s vote this week finalizes a $2.5 million payout to the Mendez family, ending their nearly eight-year civil rights lawsuit.
• Seventeen-year-old Peter Mendez said he feels relieved to close this chapter and called for stronger safeguards to prevent police from pointing guns at children.
• In 2019, Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Peter Mendez Act requiring trauma-informed training for officers, and the Chicago Police Department has since overhauled its warrant and raid policies.
• Before agreeing to the settlement, the city spent an additional $700,000 in legal fees defending the officers in court.
• Critics note that formal accountability remains limited as the city continues to deny liability and the officers never served the suspensions once agreed by department leadership.