How the seizure of a woman's purple gun led to a Chicago police corruption scandal

On a rainy night in October 2021, Lakisha German was standing at a Far South Side bus stop with her boyfriend and two children when an unmarked Chicago police SUV drove by and doubled back.As two officers approached, they made it clear they were looking for guns. Feeling she had nothing to hide, German pointed to the little purple Ruger she had tucked inside her fanny pack.One of the officers grabbed the handgun, then made an unnerving comment. “We understand why you have this weapon. We’ll let you go,” recalled German, a legal gun owner who didn’t have a license to carry publicly. “This never happened.”A still from a surveillance video shows officers approaching Lakisha German at a bus stop at 120th Street and Michigan Avenue on Oct. 5, 2021.Civilian Office of Police AccountabilityAfter hearing those parting words and realizing the officer had taken the gun, German said she knew there “was some B.S. going on.” The officers, identified as Daniel Fair and Jeffery Morrow, later claimed they had recovered the gun while responding to a ShotSpotter alert a mile from the bus stop.“Everything about that was just illegal,” German told the Sun-Times. “Everything about that was just wrong.”A complaint German filed sparked a yearslong probe that the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability conducted with the help of the FBI. The investigation concluded that four Calumet District tactical officers, including those who stopped German, had engaged in .Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling has now moved to fire Officers Fair, Morrow, Kevin Taylor and Rupert Collins, who are accused of lying about the source of various guns they recovered and stealing drugs and cash.Reflecting on her jarring encounter, German said she supports the police but insisted there should be harsh consequences in this case.“Everybody has a job that should be done, but some things should just never be overlooked,” she said. “I don’t feel like people should abuse their power.”