Chicago Police Car Trails 'Black Lives Matter' March While Playing 'Sweet Home Alabama'

As a parade of Chicago Police Department vehicles trailed a “Black Lives Matter” protest Saturday on the West Side, one of the unmarked cars appeared to be blasting the song “Sweet Home Alabama.”

A video was posted to YouTube on Dec. 6, and the Chicago Police Department says the matter is under investigation. About 100 marchers, organized by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, walked up Pulaski Road to Madison Street. At about 1:30 p.m., Gabriel Michael recorded the video in the 100 block of South Pulaski.

“It didn’t makes sense to me. It was [either] a horribly ironic joke that desensitized cops were playing, or it was intentionally disrespectful and intimidating,” Michael told DNAinfo Chicago. “It was aggressive. It was totally out of place.”

It’s not clear if the 1974 Lynyrd Skynyrd song is being played on the car’s radio or on its public address system, but the song is definitely audible to people on the sidewalk. Chicago Police Department spokesman Martin Maloney said the episode would be investigated.

Protests, die-ins and marches were conducted throughout the city over the weekend.

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