Capitol attack: police officer charged with obstruction of justice –

On Oct 15, 2021

1.25pm EDT
13:25

Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot has filed a complaint in court against Chicago’s largest police union and its president after a directive for officers to ignore a citywide mandate to report their vaccination status, the latest in an ongoing battle between government officials and first responders over vaccine mandates.

Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot (right), with Illinois governor JB Pritzker (left), president of the National Mexican Museum of Art Carolos Tortolero and Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, earlier this month. Photograph: Karen I Hirsch/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

In a statement issued this morning, Lightfoot announced that she had instructed the city’s law department to file a complaint for injuctive relief against the Chicago chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police union and its president John Catanzara for essentially encouraging an illegal strike following the anti-vaccine mandate comments.

“As Chicago’s Mayor, I cannot and will not stand idly by while the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists threatens the health and safety of Chicago’s residents and first responders,” said Lightfoot in the statement.

“President Catanzara has time and again deliberately misled our police officers by lying about the requirements of the policy and falsely claiming that there will be no repercussions if officers are insubordinate and refuse to follow a City and Department directive or order.”

On Tuesday, Catanzara posted an online video, criticizing the vaccine mandate requirement announced in August from the Lightfoot administration that required city workers to get fully vaccinated and report their vaccination status by Friday. As per the mandate, which covers more than 30,000 city workers, for employees that remained unvaccinated, only after being granted religious or medical exemptions, and refused semiweekly coronavirus testing, employees would be placed on unpaid leave.

In the clip posted to YouTube, Catanzara said he would sue the Lightfoot administration if they tried to enforce the mandate and suggested that many Chicago police department (CPD) officers would be unwilling to comply. Catanzara then instructs CPD employees to petition for vaccine exemptions but not to enter the required information into the city’s vaccination portal.