47th Hour News Today

At Lowell Middle School, teachers will now be paid for work they've done for free for years.

And i would tell you this also. we classified him as a victim. we gave him the benefit of the doubt all the way up until the 47th hour of the 48th hour that we could legally hold those two brothers in custody. it turned at that 47th hour, and thats when he became a suspect in this, you know. our job is to gather the facts and evidence, present them to the states attorney, who then decides if the evidence is sufficient for charging. they decided it was. now, the next step is to go through the jud...

It turned at that 47th hour, and thats when he became a suspect in this, you know. our job is to gather the facts and evidence, present them to the states attorney, who then decides if the evidence is sufficient for charging. they decided it was. now the next step is to go through the judicial process and either a judge or jury will decide whos telling the truth. so we just let the judicial process play out. >> he did say it was white -- he saw white skin. he said that to you, to police? >> yes....

>> so what ill say to you, don, is this. our job as police officers, not just in chicago but across this country -- our job is to let the facts guide us to where we go. when we started this investigation, he told us that, you know, he could see through the mask that these were white-skinned people. thats who we were looking for. but the facts guided us in a different direction. and i would tell you this also. we classified him as a victim. we gave him the benefit of the doubt all the way up unti...

In this city. you know, weve had issues before, but weve made a lot of progress also. >> and the numbers are going the right way -- the right direction. thats a good thing. as far as jussie smollett, he continues to stand by his story that he didnt stage this attack, superintendent. his attorneys released a statement saying, smollett feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing. how do you respond to that? >> so what ill say to you, don,...

City? >> it was upsetting. i want you all to realize this. we have been working on this investigation for about three weeks. we saw several shootings and homicides in that period of time. we dont take away resources from violent crimes because this person is a celebrity. you all gave this a lot more attention than it probably deserves. when you get the opportunity, the shooting victims and families of this city that are victims of those crimes, give them the same amount of attention. this should...

Smollett appeared in court waking a black vest and black clothing. the same thing that we saw in his mug shot. so a little movement right now. we might see them. while were waiting for that, ill tell you about the details of how they turned this case. they tracked down the two brothers that police say with the cooperation of the local community, tips. that led them to the grain any security video. detectives say it was data from ride sharing that they tracked down and led them to the brothers. t...

>> let me reiterate again, you will heard me say consistently that we were treating smollett like a victim, and we did. might have had some peculiarities with the case, as we do with most cases. so it wasnt until the 47th hour that it took a change. so we give him the benefit of the doubt up until that 47th hour. but when we discover the actual motive, quite frankly, it pissed everybody off. we have to invest valuable resources. when you all put things out there into the universe that is not act...

Okay, thank you all. >> the 47th hour, a little bit more details about what it was? >> while, at the 47th hours when the two brothers decided, like the commander reiterated, with the help of their lawyer, they decided to confess to the entirety of what the plot was. >> racism or discrimination -- >> you said you want smollett to be held accountable. i am curious. >> absolute justice would be an apology to the city that he smeared. admitting what he did, and then be man enough to offer what he sh...

During the staged attack where they punched him a little bit. but as far as we can tell, the scratches and bruising that you saw on his face was most likely self-inflicted. >> [ inaudible ]. >> so let me reiterate again. you all heard me say consistently that we were treating mr. smollett like a victim. and we did. we might have had some peculiarities with the case, as we do with most cases. so it wasnt until the 47th hour of their 48-hour hold time that we could legally hold them in custody tha...