A pair of lawmakers have used their political platforms to advocate for defunding the police. However, after they were each carjacked at gunpoint, the elected officials had a new message for law enforcement officers.
Two prominent anti-police lawmakers received a taste of the results of their own political policies as they were separately carjacked within 24 hours of one another. Pennsylvania’s U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D) and Illinois’ State Senate Majority Leader Kimberley Lightford (D) may spend their privileged lives advocating for less policing, but when it comes to their own safety, they live by a different philosophy.
Ironically, Scanlon was carjacked while she and fellow Congress members were touring the historic facility of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park. She says that she was walking to her vehicle with her aide when two armed men driving a dark-colored SUV approached them. The men demanded Scanlon’s keys and stole her car, cell phone, and purse, which contained her government identification, WPVI reports.
Hours earlier, Lightford had her own experience. While dropping her hairstylist at the worker’s home, Lightford and her husband were carjacked at gunpoint. She told police that three armed suspects jumped out of a Dodge Durango and surrounded her Mercedes Benz SUV at gunpoint.
WLS reports that the hairstylist ran inside to call the police as the couple was still being held at gunpoint. Lightford says that she made a break for it when her husband told her to run and that she then heard gunshots. Luckily, neither Lightford nor her husband was harmed during the incident.
“I thought for sure they were gonna shoot me down,” Lightford said. “It was a lot of shots being fired. I think they were shooting at my husband and me and luckily enough my husband is concealed and carry and he was able to protect us.”
Despite their vigorous efforts to defund the police, both lawmakers expressed their gratitude and relief that officers showed up quickly when they were called, a response that won’t be possible if their resources are cut by people like Scanlon and Lightford.
Scanlon released a statement in which she “thanks the Philadelphia Police Department for their swift response, and appreciates the efforts of both the Sergeant at Arms in D.C. and her local police department for coordinating with Philly PD to ensure her continued safety.”
Likewise, Lightford thanked the police for their fast response, even though her own political efforts threaten their ability to offer a swift response due to their inability to keep current employees and recruit new ones.
“First and foremost, I am thankful that my husband and I are alive and physically unharmed,” Lightford said. “I am trying to process the trauma of what happened. I want to thank everyone who has offered their love and support. I want to especially thank Mayor Katrina Thompson and the Broadview Police Department for their quick and thorough response.”
Both Scanlon and Lightford escaped the dangerous situations physically unscathed. However, this may not have been the case if they had gotten their way in defunding the police. Perhaps, there may not have been enough officers to respond to the incident or investigate it after the fact.
Activists and lawmakers in both Philadelphia and Chicago are relentlessly pushing to either defund the police or completely abolish them. These political elites have nearly every resource, luxury, and protection at their fingertips, yet even they are reliant upon the police. Still, they want those who don’t have the same access to such privileges to have less policing in their neighborhoods. Their hypocrisy is not only appalling but life-threatening.
