In 2019, the Chicago Police Department made national headlines after it announced that its very first gun arrest of the new year had taken place just one minute after midnight of January 1st. The announcement highlighted the department’s focus on making weapons arrests – except that it was not the first gun arrest of 2019. And two weeks after the arrest, the weapons charge was dropped.
One more thing: the only ones who were punished for the arrest were the arresting officers and the sergeant who signed off on the arrest report. All three were suspended for falsifying the time and date of the arrest.
A recent Chicago Sun-Times article highlights the latest failure of the CPD to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
According to evidence from the arresting officers’ body cams, the suspect was taken into custody a half-hour before midnight on New Year’s Eve. Instead of being the first weapons charge of 2019, it turned out that it was one of the last of 2018.
A CPD Internal Affairs report found body-cam video revealed “discrepancies between the apparent time of arrest and the time documented on reports.”
The Sun-Times says it isn’t clear why Internal Affairs checked the time of that arrest, but that the investigation revealed that the arresting cops had falsified their report.
After finding the falsification, officials checked other arrest reports and determined that the first gun arrest of 2019 was of a 34-year-old man taken into custody on New Year’s Day after officers reportedly saw him firing a weapon into the air in celebration in an alley.
The suspect had no prior weapons-related arrests or convictions. He later pleaded guilty to reckless discharge of a firearm.
If you have been falsely accused of a felony, contact The Law Offices of Darryl A. Goldberg at 773-793-3196 to talk over your legal options.
