Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel spared from testifying about CPD "code of silence" at trial over wrong raid

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel no longer will have to testify about an alleged "code of silence" at the Chicago Police Department, after a federal judge reversed an earlier ruling that would have required him to take the stand in a lawsuit over a botched police raid.

Attorneys for Ebony Tate, her four children, and her mother, Cynthia Eason, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city after that raid in 2018, accusing pointing guns at the kids and traumatizing them during the raid on their home.

It was one of dozens of raids CBS News Chicago Investigators have reported about, in which CPD officers raided the wrong home.

Attorneys in Tate's lawsuit against the city sought to call Emanuel to the witness stand over comments he made in an address to the Chicago City Council in 2015, when he apologized for the police murder of Laquan McDonald, and acknowledged a "code of silence" among police officers.

"The problem is sometimes referred to as the thin blue line. The problem is other times referred to as the code of silence. It is this tendency to ignore. It is a tendency to deny. It is a tendency in some cases to cover up the bad actions of a colleague or colleagues. No officer should be allowed to behave as if they are above the law just because they are responsible for upholding the law. Permitting and protecting even the smallest acts of abuse by a tiny fraction of our officers leads to a culture where extreme acts of abuse are more likely, just like with what happened to Laquan McDonald," he said at the time.

Lawyers for Tate's family wanted to call Emanuel to the stand to paint a picture of systemic issues within the department, including a pattern of coverups and excessive force.

City attorneys have sought to prevent Emanuel from being called as a witness in the trial scheduled to begin next week.

U.S. District Judge John Tharp earlier ruled Emanuel could be called as a witness, until reversing his decision at a hearing on Friday, barring the Tate family's attorneys from calling Emanuel to the stand.

The family's attorneys can still show the jury video of Emanuel's 2015 comments to the City Council during the trial.

Jury selection for the trial will begin Monday. There are still several witnesses expected to be called, including the children who were in the home at the time of the raid.