The Chicago Police Department on Thursday released previously sealed documents connected to Jussie Smollett’s alleged hate crime attack. In them, a telling set of witness accounts could support the actor’s claim that at least one of his supposed attackers was white.
Last week, a judge ruled for the criminal case to be unsealed. By Thursday, May 30, media had access to the more than 400-page, heavily redacted files.
Despite investigators saying Smollett was being dishonest, two witnesses in the docs say they spotted a white man outside Smollett’s apartment building that winter morning. One set of police notes states that an on-duty security guard working at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, which is across the street from the star’s residence, saw a white male around 6 feet tall wearing a face mask. The guard “could only see the skin area around the male’s eyes where the facemask had cutouts,” according to the notes, and “believed the male to be white, in his 20s.” He was wearing dark clothing, the report states, and the guard said another, stockier man showed up who was also wearing dark clothes. The notes state the guard could not make out that man’s race.
A second witness also stated she saw a white man. The notes say a woman went outside to walk her dogs at around 12:30 a.m.
“As she walked her dogs, she observed a person which she described as a male, white, mid 30s, wearing glasses, having reddish-brown hair and slight facial hair, average height and build wearing a blue and yellow stalking hat with a ball on top, a navy blue sweatshirt, blue jeans, gray and red socks, and brown laced shoes, which appeared wet to her,” the documents state.
The woman said the man was standing and smoking a cigarette and looked as if he were “waiting for something.” She said when she looked at him, he turned away. When he did, the witness said she could see what appeared to be a rope hanging out from his jacket.
Smollett made headlines earlier this year when he claimed two masked white men “viciously attacked” him in the early morning hours of January 29 as a polar vortex moved into the region and temperatures began dropping fast from 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The former “Empire” star claimed they poured an unknown chemical substance on him and shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him in the process. One, Smollett alleged, wrapped a noose around his neck. The men were also said to be wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and shouted “This is MAGA country, ” apparently in support of President Donald Trump.
Police were called to the scene after 2:30 a.m.
The incident led the CPD to open an investigation into an alleged hate crime. However, as more details emerged, a surveillance video was discovered of two Nigerian brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, buying supplies for the alleged attack. Sources told a CBS Chicago reporter Smollett told them what to purchase, including ski masks and red hats, which are the same color as the MAGA hats.
As the investigation continued through the spring, detectives eventually determined Smollett lied about the incident because he was upset about his pay on the now-canceled Fox series. The actor ultimately pleaded not guilty and by March, the charges were dropped.
