Chicago Still Paying for Police Torture Claims

A former Chicago police commander imprisoned for lying about the torture of suspects decades ago is still costing the cash-strapped city money.

That's because Chicago is defending itself and former police Lt. Jon Burge against civil lawsuits from men who claim Burge and his men beat, suffocated and shocked confessions out of them.

Six lawsuits are pending that accuse Chicago officers of torturing suspects _ almost all of them black or Latino_ into giving confessions from the 1970s to the 1990s.

The city's stance has long been that it would defend itself vigorously against any such lawsuits. However, Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the Chicago Sun-Times for a story published Tuesday that he's working toward settling them.

Burge-related cases already have cost the city an estimated $43 million.