A City Council committee tried Monday to write a $90 million ending to one of the ugliest chapters in the Chicago Police Department’s checkered history of disgraced cops.

A Finance Committee that has closely scrutinized and occasionally stalled prior settlements tied to allegations of police wrongdoing jumped at the chance to resolve 176 lawsuits tied to former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts in one fell swoop.

That’s because the cost of the proposed, precedent-setting settlement would be a fraction of the $500 million that Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry has said it could have cost to resolve those cases individually.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is already struggling to close a $1.15 billion shortfall after ending 2024 with $146 million in red ink, the second straight year of defi

See Full Page