Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot, on Saturday, threatened to issue citations and potential jail time to residents failing to comply with the stay-at-home order as house parties continue to be held across the city amid the novel coronavirus crisis.
Chicago police broke up multiple large gatherings Friday night, including a house party with 150 guests, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
“Now I’ve directed Superintendent Brown to order all police districts to give special attention to these parties,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned. “And this is how it’s going to be.”
“We will shut you down, we will cite you, and if we need to we will arrest you, and we will take you to jail. Period,” she threatened.
“There should be nothing unambiguous about that. Don’t make us treat you like a criminal. But if you act like a criminal and you violate the law and you refuse to do what is necessary to save lives in this city in a middle of a pandemic, we will take you to jail. Period,” Lightfoot reiterated.
Upon hearing the Chicago Mayor’s statement, investigative reporter Sara A. Carter questioned Lightfoot’s motives as some inmates have been released from jail due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. Continued Below
Carter took to Twitter Sunday, tweeting a video of Mayor Lightfoots remarks to Chicago residents and wrote: “So if you don’t do exactly as we say in #Chicago and #StayHome you will ‘go to jail, period’ and we will treat you like a criminal.”
“However, criminals are being released from jail because of possible #COVID infections. This is not the America I remember – what has happened?” she wondered.
Shortly after, Carter tweeted another video Sunday of a tattoo artist and business owner, who was arrested near Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday afternoon, after law enforcement learned he had opened his studio despite state lockdown regulations. Continued Below
A video shared to Twitter by local news reporters in Apex, where the tattoo studio is located, shows two police officers removing the artist from his establishment and escorting him into the parking lot outside, where at least two additional officers waited, Newsweek reported.
The arrest came less than one week after North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper extended the state’s stay-at-home order, which mandates nonessential businesses halt operations that cannot be performed remotely. The order, originally scheduled to terminate on April 29, was extended through May 8, per Newsweek.
Sara Carter tweeted the video of the tattoo artist being arrested by police and said on Twiter: “Wonder what the will the fallout from all this is going to be – we can go to the grocery store, go to a gas station, some still work – but most businesses have shuddered.”
“The police obviously still have a job, the news crew filming isn’t arrested but this man is? People [are] losing their businesses. They are frustrated and watching everything they built, fall apart. I guess only time will tell the magnitude of all of this mess,” she added. Videos Below
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s remarks:
I’m not playing. Stay home (your own home). Save lives.https://t.co/jPUdaRsoTp pic.twitter.com/bStBdWKIVT
— Mayor Lightfoot #StayHomeSaveLives (@chicagosmayor) May 3, 2020
Sara A. Carter’s reaction to Mayor Lightfoot:
So if you don’t do exactly as we say in #Chicago and #StayHome you will ‘go to jail, period’ and we will treat you like a criminal. However, criminals are being released from jail because of possible #COVID infections
This is not the America I remember – what has happened? https://t.co/Ckla0hggsQ
— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) May 3, 2020
Following her news conference, Mayor Lightfoot crossed the street to tell youth outside a school to go home. One kid responded, telling the mayor: “You go home”.
After a news conference decrying house parties and telling people to stay home, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot crossed the street to tell youth outside a school to go home.
One young man responded: “Y’all need to find a cure, you’re talking about go home. You go home.” pic.twitter.com/uZHhNbcS0U
— Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) May 2, 2020
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A tattoo artist arrested in North Carolina for not abiding orders:
Police arrest Apex tattoo artist who opened in defiance of order @newsobserver pic.twitter.com/kYaZgxP1zT
— Josh Shaffer (@joshshaffer08) April 29, 2020
Sara A. Carter responds:
Losing their businesses. They are frustrated and watching everything they built fall apart. I guess only time will tell the magnitude of all of this mess.
— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) May 3, 2020
