Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Six Chicago police officers have been given suspensions for giving favorable treatment to a high-ranking Chicago Fire Department official who was allegedly driving drunk when he crashed his city-issued vehicle off North Lake Shore Drive last April, according to a source with knowledge of the incident.
The officers, including three supervisors, were suspended by police Superintendent Eddie Johnson for improper processing and reporting procedures for mishandling the crash involving then-Deputy Fire Commissioner John McNicholas.
Word of the suspensions come about a week after the U.S. Justice Department issued a scathing report that criticized Chicago police for, among other things, of failing to hold officers accountable for wrongdoing.
The suspensions for the six officers ranged from five to 20 days without pay, but four of the officers are appealing their suspensions.
The crash took place a little before 1 a.m. on April 20 on LaSalle Street just west of Lake Shore Drive while McNicholas was off-duty. McNicholas had a blood-alcohol content of 0.154 percent — nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to city records obtained by the Tribune under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
But internal investigators with the Fire Department didn’t conduct the Breathalyzer test until 4:32 a.m., more than three hours after the crash, the records show.
Initially, police only issued a traffic ticket to McNicholas for failing to reduce speed. But in June, he was ticketed for driving under the influence of alcohol after the Cook County state’s attorney’s office declined to charge McNicholas with a felony.
McNicholas resigned from the Fire Department after the incident.
thanks Dan
