Lightfoot rival torches mayor over crime ahead of election: 'People keep dying'
Willie Wilson is running in the crowded field on February 28
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}One of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's opponents in the Chicago mayor's election on February 28 said he takes Chicago's out of control violent crime personally, having lost a son to murder in the dangerous city.
Willie Wilson, an entrepreneur and McDonalds franchisee who grew up in Louisiana, said Thursday he stands behind his forceful condemnation of what critics call a more hands-off approach to policing under Lightfoot's tenure.
In a recent debate, Wilson said the Chicago Police should be able to "chase [a suspect] down and hunt them down like a rabbit" – in reaction to a policy to the contrary established in recent times.
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Lori Lightfoot, mayor of Chicago (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Here's what I meant. I lost a 20-year-old son, he was murdered by gun," Wilson told "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "These people need to be caught. [There are] too many restrictions on the police department. We need to take the handcuffs off the police officers and put them on the people who's actually doing it."
"This particular mayor that we have right now just keep coming up with excuses; excuses, but people keep dying on the street. Nobody's doing a damn about it."
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Mayoral candidates Willie Wilson, left. ((Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
Wilson said his top priority if elected is to "take back" the streets from the criminal element running rampant in the Windy City as of late.
"I'm tired of it. I don't want to see no other family go through what I've been through – to lose a son or a daughter or something of that nature. We're going to stop it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He said Lightfoot is paid to do a job she refuses to do, calling the Democrat "the worst mayor, that, I think she'll go down in history [as]."
Criminal justice policies under the mayor have police afraid to do their jobs to the fullest extent, he claimed, adding that in corporate America, Lightfoot would've been ousted by the shareholders' board.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"And look, crime has no color," said Wilson, who is Black. "You know, when you commit a crime it hurts, you know. So it has no color.This mayor here cannot do the job. [she] keep making excuses, excuses, after excuse it. People are tired and sick of this stuff."
Wilson concluded that he does not want to take a paycheck from the Chicago taxpayers if elected either, remarking solving the city's crime problem and empowering law enforcement would be reward enough.