Foxx policies punish the police instead of the criminals

July 2022 was a bad month for law-abiding citizens who witnessed two teenagers using guns that resulted in a Chicago police officer being killed six months later and another Oak Lawn police officer being tracked down by a corrupt political injustice movement that puts the concerns of criminals. over the concerns of law-abiding citizens

By Ray Hanania

The suspect who murdered Chicago police officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso was a known gang member who slipped through the justice system because of the lenient policy on gun-wielding criminals by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

Suspect Steven Montano shot and killed Vasquez-Lasso Wednesday near 5200 S. Spaulding Avenue at Sawyer Elementary School’s playground where the children were playing.

The killing may have been prevented if Foxx was concerned about criminals in gun-related crimes.

Montano and two others were arrested on July 28, 2022, after shooting a man twice in his legs near the 2600 block of West 23rd Place in Little Village.

Witnesses identified the suspects in a White Honda Accord with tinted windows that police determined was stolen two days prior.

Police spotted the Honda near 26th and Whipple and chased them for 5 miles through the city, stopping them near 74th Street and Parnell in Englewood before abandoning the car.

All three were caught and police found two weapons used in the shooting between the car and the route the suspects had run in. Montano was also suspected of recruiting a minor to commit weapons crimes.

Montano was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm on July 28, 2022, and the masked driver was charged with weapons possession. His case is still pending.

Foxx gave Montano “an alternative to traditional prosecution” due to his young age and lack of a prior criminal record—which is how Foxx describes career criminals who evade the law before eventually being caught.

Foxx dropped the felony and resisting arrest charges against Montano three months later. Montano performed 25 hours of community service. And then proceeded to kill a policeman. Vasquez-Lasso might still be alive if it weren’t for Foxx’s leniency toward criminals.

This type of crime pattern involving suspects with guns happens all the time. Suspects involved in shootings are arrested and given leniency. They then go out and commit more crimes.

That is why I am so concerned about the grave injustice committed in Oak Lawn against Police Officer Patrick O’Donnell, 32, who, along with another officer, pulled over a vehicle on July 27, 2022 in a routine traffic stop (the day before Montano was arrested). in Chicago).

The police smelled marijuana and politely asked the two teenagers in the car to get out of the car and be searched. The driver cooperated and did what he was told. O’Donnell and another officer frisked him and made him step aside.

The police asked Hadi Abuatelah, who was 17 years old and was sitting in the back seat, to get out, but left the large bag in his hands on the seat. Instead of listening to the police, he grabbed the bag containing a loaded gun and ran.

Police tackled Abuatelah who was on the ground and refused to release the weapon. The police beat him Abuatelah until he surrendered.

Abuatelah’s family and the Arab American Action Network accused the police of brutality. The protesters disrupted the Oak Lawn Fire and Police Commission hearing Wednesday, yelling, calling people names and screaming about “injustice.” The commission could not hold its public meeting because AAAN protesters did not want the real facts to come out.

The Oak Lawn Patch and author Lorraine Swanson posted a great video of the protests you must see — Click on the Hot Topics link on Hanania.com.

(I always love how activists call for the passage of gun and assault weapons bans, except when one of their own has one.)

The Village of Oak Lawn released a statement saying Foxx declined to respond to requests for information about the allegations against O’Donnell. They were never provided with any of the reports Foxx claims justify the indictment and charging of O’Donnell.

O’Donnell is driven by Foxx and a system of injustice that puts the rights of criminals above the rights of law-abiding citizens.

Abuatelah, who had a dangerous weapon in his possession, faces a “weapons charge” in juvenile court. But we all know that nothing will happen with it. Perhaps the accusation will end just like with Montano who went on to bigger and more deadly headlines.

This is not about the ethnicity of the suspects. I am Arab-American and I recognize that Arabs are often victims of discrimination. But Arab Americans should not defend criminals when they have guns.

It’s about criminals who use guns, but who are never properly punished, and the police are blamed instead.

When a police officer tells you to do something, do it. There should be a law that imposes severe penalties on anyone who refuses to do what police officers tell them to do. And instead of just pretending to punish a teenager, the parents of that teenager should be prosecuted for not having control over their children.

O’Donnell is a hero for protecting law-abiding citizens from punks who carry loaded guns while driving around their neighborhoods. The charges against O’Donnell should be dropped. Criminals with loaded weapons should be prosecuted.

Here is the Oak Lawn Police Press Conference detailing what happened with the video of the traffic stop and the Oak Lawn teenager running from police with the gun in a bag over his shoulder.

(This column also appeared in Southwest News Newspaper Group, Patch and JohnKassNews.com.)

(Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall reporter. Hanania’s opinion columns on mainstream issues are a political analyst and managing director of the Urban Strategies Group, published in the Southwest News Newspaper Group in the Des Plaines Valley News, Southwest News-Herald, The Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers. His Middle East columns are published in Arab News. For more information about Ray Hanania visit www.Hanania.com or email him at [email protected])

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