Chicago police report vandalism at Far South Side station

A vandal or vandals have been at work at a Morgan Park neighborhood police station, loosening lugnuts on squad cars there and plunking a large piece of concrete spray-painted with an anarchy symbol in the station parking lot.

"It weighs every bit of 50 pounds," said a Morgan Park District officer. "It's a big hunk of concrete found in the middle of the parking lot."

-from the Trib

-also UPI

Slain cop mistakenly listed on report of low-performing officers

Michael Bailey was one of the names on a list of low-performing Chicago Police officers sent to supervisors earlier this month.

Their work activity was “lower than other officers performing the same assignment” from Jan. 1 through June 6, the memo said.

The problem: Bailey was shot to death outside his house in July 2010 during an apparent robbery attempt after completing work on a security detail for then-Mayor Richard M. Daley.

more from the Sun-Times

Witnesses dispute police account of fatal CTA shooting

Chicago police shot and killed a man on a CTA Red Line train early Saturday who, officials alleged, was walking through the train with a gun.

The shooting occurred inside the Garfield CTA station on the South Side shortly after 1:40 a.m., after a train operator directed police to the train car in which George Lash, 19, was last seen, police said in a news release.

Police said that two officers approached Lash and that he allegedly began to fight with the officers and pointed a gun at them, prompting them to shoot him.

But several witnesses who telephoned the Tribune and other media outlets Saturday countered that version of events, arguing that Lash appeared unarmed and that the shooting appeared unjustified.

"I didn't see a gun at all," said Natalie Bruce, who said she was on her way home from church when the shooting occurred. "The officers put his hands behind his back. They seemed like they were patting him down, and they tussled a little bit, but they had him pinned against the wall."

Ordered to leave the train, Bruce said she did not see the actual shooting but heard shots as she stepped onto the platform.

After the shooting, Lash was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 2:30 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Police spokesman Roderick Drew said Saturday that a gun was recovered at the scene. The Independent Police Review Authority, which reviews all police-involved shootings, is investigating.

from the Trib

Tinley Park cop cruiser shattered

A landscaping brick was used Sept. 2 to shatter the windshield of a squad car and to damage a 2009 Chevrolet Impala in the 17300 block of Valley Drive.

from the Southtown Star

Anti-cop graffiti found in South Loop

An alderman was notified after graffiti that reportedly said "we kill police" was found on a building in the South Loop Monday, police said.

Someone apparently complained and Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) was notified when the graffiti was found Monday on the building at 1234 S. Michigan Ave., according to a Central District police lieutenant.

The writing, which reportedly said “we kill police’’ looked faded, and the word ‘police’ was barely visible, according to the lieutenant.

The writing was going to be removed, according to the lieutenant who said the writings did not appear to be recent.

The alderman was not immediately available early Tuesday.

from the Sun-Times

Man briefly steals squad car

A Cook County sheriff's squad car was briefly stolen by a man who led police on an unusual chase after a traffic stop Friday evening near the Stickney-Chicago border.

The incident began about 5 p.m. near 47th and Knox in an unincorporated area between Chicago and Stickney, according to the Cook County sheriff's office.

A Cook County sheriff's officer was attempting to pull over the driver, but the man continued to drive for two more blocks, finally pulling over at 47th and Kenneth, authorities said. A Chicago Police officer arrived on the scene for backup.

But after stopping, the motorist put his vehicle in reverse and struck the sheriff's police squad, authorities said. He then got out and ran, followed by both officers on foot.

The offender circled around and came back to the original scene and jumped into the empty sheriff's police squad. He then drove east on 47th Street, authorities said.

The police officer got back into his vehicle and pursued the suspect down an alley.

The offender then stopped the sheriff's squad car, got out and again ran off. After a short foot chase, this time the Chicago officer was able to apprehend the man and take him into custody, officials said.

from the Sun-Times

Man throws beer bottle through occupied cop car

A man was charged with throwing a beer bottle at a police squad car causing the front window shield to break Sunday night on the Northwest Side, police said.

Andrzej Domian, 19, of the 3900 block of North Nottingham Avenue, was charged with felony criminal damage to government property and misdemeanor aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon. He was also cited with underage drinking, according to police.

Domian was booked into Cook County Jail Tuesday after being ordered held on $20,000 bond, according to an online inmate report listed on the Cook County Sheriff’s Web site. Domian is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing April 26 at an unidentified courthouse.

A uniformed officer was sitting inside a squad car on the 7100 block of West Irving Park Road about 11:20 p.m. when Domian allegedly made eye contact with her and threw a 40 ounce beer bottle at the police car, causing the front windshield to shatter, according to a police report.

from the Sun-Times

Streamwood cop charged in motorist’s beating

As Ronald Bell crouched on his hands and knees on his driveway, the Streamwood police officer started whaling away with his metal baton, striking Bell on his back.

Bell tried to block the blows with his right arm, but Officer James Mandarino then hit him on the head and arm — 15 times in all — until Bell collapsed to the pavement, clasping his head in his hands in a desperate attempt to shield himself from further abuse.

Bell was charged with resisting a police officer and reckless driving, both misdemeanors, and was issued a handful of traffic tickets, including driving under the influence.

But less than a day later, the attention of law enforcement shifted to Mandarino. A digital camera mounted on his squad car recorded every second of what Cook County prosecutors said was an unprovoked beating. The early-morning assault played out amid the headlights of the police cruiser as its windshield wipers swept back and forth in the rain.

from the Trib

Cop skims $600k from police association

A statewide police association will check its financial books after learning one of its board members -- a Chicago Police sergeant -- was charged with skimming $600,000 from the Chicago Police Sergeants' Association.

Sgt. John Pallohusky, a detective and president of the Chicago sergeants' association, also serves as financial secretary for the Springfield-based Police Benevolent & Protective Association of Illinois.

On Friday, Cook County prosecutors charged Pallohusky, 53, with stealing from the Chicago Police Sergeants' Association and spending the money on a home, an online stock brokerage, gambling trips, hotels and steak dinners.

from the Sun-Times

Veteran cop steals from sick cop

In an unusual theft case, a veteran Chicago police officer has been charged with stealing $800 -- from another officer who was undergoing treatment for cancer, authorities said Thursday.

Police and prosecutors said Officer George Porter had agreed to buy groceries for the ill co-worker with her bank card but instead made four $200 withdrawals from ATMs over the next three days and pocketed the cash.

from the Trib

Bad cop really bad

A Dolton cop caught on camera allegedly breaking a 15-year-old special needs student's nose for failing to tuck in his shirt has a troubling history that includes killing a man in a case of disputed self-defense and is now in an Indiana jail on an unrelated rape charge.

Christopher Lloyd, 38, was identified Thursday by his father Charles Lloyd and Dolton Mayor Ronnie Lewis as the officer who in May was recorded by a school security camera scuffling with 15-year-old, 140-pound Marshawn Pitts at the Academy for Learning in Dolton.

An attorney hired by Pitts' parents released the video this week, calling the incident an "unprovoked attack" on a vulnerable child. The video, which has no audio, appears to show the officer slamming Pitts against a locker, wrestling him to the ground and pinning him.

But speaking Thursday, Charles Lloyd said he had seen the video and discussed the incident with his son, who he said was "just trying to do his job as a police officer and is completely innocent."

from the Trib

Video disputes police arrest claim

The attorney representing nearly two dozen people who have filed federal civil lawsuits against a Chicago police officer they allege has made false DUI arrests and has harassed gays and people with disabilities revealed a video today that disputes at least one of the officer's police reports.

The video, which was mounted in Chicago police officer Richard Fiorito's squad car, shows Michael Vaughn, who was pulled over for suspicion of drunken driving in June, walking in a straight line with his arms at his side as part of a field sobriety test. But Fiorito said in a police report that Vaughn couldn't keep his balance and raised his arms more than six inches.

from the Trib

Everyone agrees, it's about to explode

An off-duty Chicago firefighter has been charged with assaulting a police officer Sunday evening near Soldier Field after the Bears game, officials said today.

Scott Holland, 42, of the 2800 block of South Wood Street, was charged with one count of aggravated battery to a peace officer and one count of resisting arrest, police said.

At Holland's bond hearing this morning, Assistant State's Atty. Erin Antonietti said the unformed officer was riding a bicycle after the Bears game and approached Holland from behind and off to one side.

Holland, for unexplained reasons, shoved the officer into a fence and punched him in the face, she said.

Holland's bail was set at $65,000.

Holland was arrested in the 1800 block of South Calumet Avenue shortly after the Bears game ended. Police earlier had said the attack occurred on a pedestrian bridge near Soldier Field.

-from the Sun-Times

Taking a page from Twin Cities police, anarchists make pre-emptive G20 strike?

Sources indicate nails and screws were forced into the tires on at least a dozen marked and unmarked police cars as well as a number of private cars.

Pittsburgh Police sources say at least a dozen police cars and a number of private cars were vandalized.

Sources also confirm police investigators have substantial information to believe the crime was committed by anarchists in town for the G-20 Summit.

Police detectives took photographs and looked for evidence in the parking lot of police headquarters Thursday afternoon.

The damage was done to the cars' tires.

Sources indicate nails and screws were forced into the tires on at least a dozen marked and unmarked police cars as well as a number of private cars.

Sources indicate it is believed a number of suspected anarchists came to police headquarters late Wednesday night and damaged as many cars as possible.

Police indicate the tires cannot be plugged and must be replaced because the cars have to operate at high speeds.

Damage estimates at this time are running in the thousands of dollars.

Sources indicate the suspected anarchists came to prove to police they can do damage whenever and wherever they want.

There was no official comment regarding the incident.

KDKA's Marty Griffin has been told the mayor, police chief and public safety director are outraged by the brazen nature of the attack.

There will also be increased security in the parking lot starting Thursday night.

video from YouTube

Chicago pig attacks bus driver

An off-duty Chicago police officer allegedly beat a CTA bus driver so badly Saturday night that the driver was left unconscious, a representative from the driver's union said Wednesday.

"There is a belief on our part that [the driver] was unconscious for a while," said Darrell Jefferson, president of Amalgamated Transit Union 241.

Jefferson said two union representatives who have seen CTA video surveillance of the alleged incident remarked that the driver doesn't move after he's punched, and "he's not feeling for his glasses -- he's not doing anything," said Jefferson, who had not seen the video surveillance Wednesday.

The incident is being investigated by Area 3 detectives and the Independent Police Review Authority. At the time of the incident, the officer already had been relieved of his police powers for an "unrelated matter," a Chicago Police spokesman said, without elaborating.

The alleged beating occurred Saturday night in the Loop. At the time, the officer was riding a bicycle, and then allegedly boarded the bus, accusing the driver of trying to cut him off.

Jefferson said video surveillance shows the police officer repeatedly punching the driver, leaving the bus, and then returning to punch the driver some more.

from the Sun-Times

Teens tag Chicago police memorial

Four teenagers are in custody after they spray-painted graffiti on a memorial near Soldier Field honoring slain Chicago police officers and their families, authorities said.

Police arrested three 17-year-olds -- two females and one male -- and a 15-year-old boy, said Chicago News Affairs Officer Michael Fitzpatrick.

The teens were arrested at about 3:05 a.m. after police on routine patrol saw them running from the Gold Star Families Memorial and Park, Fitzpatrick said.

The teens used red spray paint to write words on the north end of the memorial in the 1400 block of South Museum Campus Drive, just east of Soldier Field on Chicago Park District land, police said. The tagging was neither gang-related nor anti-police, Fitzpatrick said.

A wall in a nearby tunnel had also been spray-painted by the teens, Fitzpatrick said.

from the Trib

Street signs honor slain officers

Almost 39 years to the day after two Chicago police officers were gunned down while on foot patrol in the Cabrini-Green housing project, the street outside the nearby police station was dedicated to their memory Saturday.

Street signs bearing the names of Anthony Rizzato and James Severin were unveiled at a ceremony attended by Police Supt. Jody Weis, members of their families and a crowd of former colleagues.

Mary Schlaak, Severin's niece, told attendees outside the station at 1160 N. Larrabee Ave. that the memorial will make it clear the deaths still matter.

"Thank you for understanding that 39 years later this loss of two 18th District cops who died in the line of duty, it's still meaningful and still relevant," Schlaak said.

Rizzato and Severin were on patrol near Seward Park on July 17, 1970, as part of the department's "Walk & Talk" program they volunteered for, when shots rang out from a nearby high rise, fatally injuring both.

Two men were sentenced to 199 years for the murders and are still in prison.

Weis said the two officers were heroes and that Chicagopolice remain targets now.

"It's not that different today," Weis said at the ceremony. "People try to murder our officers. I don't know what that says about society, but it says our mission isn't done."

A memorial to Rizzato and Severin stood on the spot where they were shot, but had to be moved recently because of a construction project, according to Near North District Cmdr. Steve Georgas.

Retired Chicago Police tactical Sgt. Ed Wodnicki remembered the two as extremely brave officers at a time the Near North District was a dangerous place.

"It was a combat zone, and they were combatants," Wodnicki said.

from the Trib

Two cops shot in leg while executing warrant

Two narcotics officers were shot, both in the leg, while executing a search warrant on the Far South Side early this afternoon, officials said.

The officers were shot by someone inside the home near East 112th Place and South State Street where they were serving the warrant, a source said, adding that both officers are doing fine.

They were taken in good condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

No other details were immediately available.

from the Trib

Police from 68 DNC protests to hold reunion

eThe reunion, the policeman's son said, was simply for Chicago cops who worked together some 40 years ago -- something he wanted to do for his father and his father's friends.

But the span of four decades has not been long enough to eradicate the searing memories of the 1968 demonstrations during the Democratic National Convention. And when "Chicago Riot Cops Reunion" organizers wrote on their Web site that "the only thing that stood between Marxist street thugs and public order was a thin blue line of dedicated, tough Chicago police officers," the fight was back on.

"Are these guys nuts?" asked Marilyn Katz, a protester at the 1968 convention in Chicago and now a president of a communications firm here. "Do they think it's really good PR for them?"

Chicago Copwatch, an activist organization that tries to document police misconduct, swiftly organized a counter-rally at Ashland Avenue and Lake Street at 6 p.m. Friday, the same night as the reunion. They plan to a march to the Fraternal Order of Police lodge, where the reunion is being held.

from the Trib
see also Copwatch

Police officer robs benevolent association

A 10-year Cicero police veteran was charged with theft today after allegedly stealing more than $70,000 from the department's benevolent association, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said.

Gerald Bossolono, 46, was arrested as he showed up for work today by investigators with the Cook County State's Attorney's office, Alvarez said in a press release. He served as treasurer of the Cicero police benevolent association.

from the Trib