Page 10 - FOP_Magazine_ February2019

SecondVice President’s Report
Judge’s ruling should mean reinstatement for officers in McDonald investigation
With Circuit Court Judge Domenica Stephenson declaring that Laquan McDonald was in fact an armed assailant, three officers criminally charged in the 2014 fatal McDonald shooting were acquit- ted of all charges on Jan. 17.
“It is clear from the testimony in this case that an officer could reasonably believe that an attack was imminent based upon McDonald’s actions,” Stephenson said in acquitting the three officers. “Only the officers involved in the incident know
what their belief was at the time of the incident. We cannot now view the actions of the officers with the benefit of hindsight as to what they should have believed.”
Not only did Stephenson find that McDonald was an armed assailant, but she rejected every claim by special prosecutor Pa- tricia Brown Holmes that Detective David March, Officer Thom- as Gaffney and former officer Joseph Walsh conspired to cover up the shooting.
In response to the verdict, the FOP immediately demanded that three other officers — Janet Mondragon, Daphne Sebas-
tian and Ricardo Viramontes, currently stripped of their police powers and facing the loss of their jobs in connection with the incident — be reinstated:
The FOP now calls on the Chicago Police Board to consider this ruling in light of the case against three officers who also respond- ed to this shooting and are in danger of losing their jobs. These officers also did nothing wrong in this shooting. The police board should show the same courage as Judge Stephenson and return them to duty.
In 2016, Superintendent Eddie Johnson moved to fire Mon- dragon, Sebastian and Viramontes in the wake of an inves- tigation by the City’s inspector general. They were accused of making “false, misleading, inaccurate, and/or inconsistent statements.” The police board is set to hear arguments as to whether they will get to keep their jobs.
But Judge Stephenson’s ruling poses several problems in try- ing to fire the officers.
First is the obvious question: If the three officers in the crim- inal trial were acquitted of any wrongdoing, what then could these other three officers be disciplined for? If misconduct could not be proven, that March, Gaffney or Walsh conspired to gin up a false case, what remains against these other three officers?
Consider this: These three officers are before the police board for telling former detective March what they saw that night. March is now acquitted. The superintendent charged the offi- cers with lying about what they saw, based solely on the video of the shooting. But Stephenson, in acquitting March, Walsh and Gaffney, specifically rejected this line of argument embraced by prosecutors, who repeatedly compared what was in the police reports to what the police dashcam video showed. Stephenson said the case wasn’t as simple as that. The judge noted that two people can view the same event and describe it differently, but that doesn’t mean either is lying or committing any misconduct. This ruling by the judge, therefore, completely rejects the super- intendent’s theory and the basis of the police board charges.
The absurdity of the charges against the officers facing the police board boils down to this: the superintendent charged two officers, Mondragon and Sebastian, the officers who cap- tured the video that the sup is now using against them.
As with so many cases alleging police misconduct, the mob mentality against the police, which took shape against the offi- cers involved in this case, receded in the wake of evidence and testimony at trial. It’s time the City moved past this mentality against the police officers involved in the Laquan McDonald matter.
The City should dismiss these politically motivated charges now that the real facts are clear.
MARTIN PREIB
10 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2019