CITY HALL — If Mayor Rahm Emanuel was planning to reel in some deep-sea fish on his Cuban holiday, sorry, but it's working the other way with him being reeled back to Chicago.
Emanuel's press office announced Monday that he would be returning to the city Tuesday to deal with "the ongoing work of restoring accountability and trust in the Chicago Police Department."
The Saturday police shooting of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones is believed to have prompted the mayor's recall, even after Emanuel issued a statement from Cuba calling on interim Police Supt. John Escalante to improve police training.
"While Mayor Emanuel has been in constant contact with his staff and Interim Supt. Escalante, he is cutting his family trip short so that he can continue the ongoing work of restoring accountability and trust in the Chicago Police Department," said mayoral spokeswoman Kelley Quinn. "He will arrive back in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon."
Yet just how much he was cutting his trip off remained at issue. He has not had a public event since the week before Christmas, and he left for Cuba with his family later that weekend.
It was initially reported to be a 10-day trip, but according to the mayor's staff he was not due back until this weekend.
Emanuel is notoriously private about the details of his annual family trip, scolding a Politico reporter during an interview earlier this month for revealing this year's destination as Cuba.
He has been under intense fire since the Laquan McDonald case broke open with the release, just before Thanksgiving, of the police dashcam video from October 2014 of officer Jason Van Dyke shooting the 17-year-old 16 times.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
