As they went to arrest him, (OVER WHAT HUMILIATING THE OFFICERS?), he pushed one of the officers and ran, said his attorney, Jon Loevy. The officer who was shoved, George Livergood, chased Booker and fired, striking his right hand. Booker was lying on the ground with his hands raised when Livergood fired again, according to a lawsuit Booker filed.

The bullet traveled through Booker’s lungs and liver and lodged near his spine. He lost about 40 percent of his blood and spent a month in the hospital. Booker, who according to court records has past drug and robbery convictions, pleaded guilty to battery for shoving the officer, Loevy said.

Police ruled Booker’s shooting was justified, finding that he punched Livergood and attempted to grab his gun, Loevy said. The officers said they found two firearms Booker threw as he ran. After deliberating a day, the jury ruled in Booker’s favor.

“It was an unusual and extraordinary verdict,” Loevy said.

In a statement, Police Supt. Jody Weis said “the misdeeds of a few should not undermine the courage and service of the vast majority of police officers who served under SOS with integrity.” Weis also said he had taken steps to prevent “future acts from occurring” while keeping the department focused on reducing crimes while building public trust.

Livergood, the officer who shot Booker, remains on the police force and earns about $70,000 a year, according to public records. WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! Officer Livergood should be fired for being such a hot headed douche nozel.

Date: 12-20-2008

Case Style: Crispus Booker v. City of Chicago
Judge: Not Named

Court: Circuit Court, Cook County, Illinois

Plaintiff’s Attorney: Jon Loevy, Chicago, Illinois

Defendant’s Attorney: Not Named

Description: Crispus Booker sued the City of Chicago claiming that he was wrongfully wounded by Chicago special operations officers and that they tried to frame him for a crime he didn’t commit.

The defenses asserted by the City of Chicago are not available.

Outcome: Plaintiff’s verdict for $720,000.00.

A Central District police captain was en route to the scene where shots had been fired about 12:15 p.m. and said two suspects were in custody. News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak confirmed no one had been injured in the incident, which occurred at 12:04 p.m., and said authorities had not ruled out the possibility the shooting was accidental or had occurred during a robbery.

Ray Graham Training Center at 2347 S. Wabash Ave. is located near the site of the incident. Graham is a specialty high school for 15- to 21-year-olds with moderate to severe cognitive abilities, according to its Web site.

By Ashahed M. Muhammad | FinalCall.com

Plans announced by the U.S. Department of Defense to have 20,000 additional uniformed troops dispatched in America by 2011 have been met with criticism from former veterans, law enforcement officials and rights activists concerned that it represents the latest development in a continued blurring of the lines between law enforcement and military operations.

“We are very concerned about the possible constitutional violation of posting active duty soldiers in the United States in a police function,” said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. “We should be very concerned that President George W. Bush is trying to violate the spirit of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution by permanently basing active duty troops in the United States with the mission of performing police roles.”

Pentagon officials recently announced plans to bolster the security efforts of state and local law enforcement agencies in the event of a terrorist attack by creating “rapid-reaction forces” that would be able to intervene in attacks or other domestic disturbances likely to result in mass casualties.

Critics have asked if this “rapid-reaction” is really emergency preparedness, or is it actually a part of the gradual and continual escalation toward martial law that has occurred under the Bush Administration moving America closer towards a police state?

Patricia Hill, the executive director of the African-American Police League, a community organization of Black law enforcement officers working to improve service and relations in Black communities, said that instead of working for solutions through prevention and intervention strategies or perhaps though additional programming and better training, control, force and punishment is always the solution for law enforcement, and it shouldn’t be.

“America is turning towards a closed, neo-fascist society”, said Ms. Hill, a retired Chicago police officer who served 21-years and author of the book “Black Ain’t Blue.” “This thing about America being an open society is an illusion. When you have people arbitrarily stopped and released—this is a now neo-fascist society and the reason that people aren’t believing it, or understanding what they are seeing, is because it has been a slow progression,” said Ms. Hill adding that the move toward a closed society did not begin under the Bush Administration but goes back to the two presidents before him.

She cited the “Three strikes” policy enacted under Pres. Bill Clinton that resulted in an increase in the number of prisoners housed in the American penal system, the 1996 “Contract With America” led by Newt Gingrich and the dismantling of the Soviet Union under Pres. Ronald Reagan. All moved America closer and closer to a closed society, she said. Ms. Hill recommended that President-elect Barack H. Obama, as a constitutional lawyer, and his Attorney General Eric Holder examine the constitutionality of this policy and perhaps issue a “cease and desist order.”

President-elect Obama has not commented publicly on the plan, however, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has already signed off on it.

Studies such as “Militarizing American Police: The Rise and Normalization of Paramilitary Units” by Prof. Peter Kraska of the University of Eastern Kentucky and “Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America” by Radley Balko of the Washington-based Cato Institute, have documented this policy of escalation being adopted by police departments across the U.S. that involved obtaining more powerful and sophisticated weaponry to go along with their more aggressive policing methods.

With American troop availability already spread thin fighting conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with unpredictable political relations between India and Pakistan possibly resulting in American military intervention, veterans are concerned that yet another responsibility is going to be placed on the already overburdened armed forces.

“If we want to reduce crime, we need to increase education and increase economic opportunity. We will actually worsen the case if the only jobs available are those policing other people. The Nazis tried that and it didn’t work. Mussolini tried that and it didn’t work and it certainly didn’t work in the 1700s with Americans,” said Mr. Sullivan.

Mr. Sullivan, who served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq with the U.S. Army during the 1991 Gulf War, said he hopes that the Obama Administration would review the reasons for this domestic initiative. While he acknowledged that there have been times when the military has been asked to intervene in domestic affairs, such as the riots in major cities in the 1960s and to aid in the school integration in the 1950s and 1960s, special care has to be taken to ensure that troops are not being misused.

White supremacists in the ranks?

Another reason for concern according to activists is the revelation that there have been attempts by members of White supremacist organizations to infiltrate all branches of the United States armed forces, some of whom might be chosen for deployment in the cities.

Military officials said they do their best to weed out individuals with White supremacist affiliations and beliefs.

“You’ve always had White supremacists in the armed forces,” Ms. Hill said. She believes the military is doing its best to prevent these recruits from entering so they would not be accused of “facilitating” this type of military training. “The White supremacist mindset is dominant in the military anyway,” she said.

“The only thing that new recruits in the military agree to do is to protect and defend our Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic,” said Mr. Sullivan. “Those who would shred the Constitution by using torture or those who would want to shred our Constitution by pitting people against each other in a race war, or anything else” are in violation against the core principles of military service, he added.

“Because the military is broken and there is no draft, the military is now accepting unqualified recruits. Some of those recruits are more interested in joining the military to assist their gang or joining the military to learn violent tactics for a racial supremacist group or to promote their view of religion,” Mr. Sullivan maintained.

Capt. Carl Redding, public affairs officer for the Media Relations Department of the United States Marine Corps said that although the image of the military has taken a hit over the past few years, the USMC has not relaxed recruiting standards and hit recruitment goals bringing in 39,000 new Marines in 2008. “Our standards have not changed at all,” said Capt. Redding.

In a recent unclassified intelligence assessment released in July 2008 titled “White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel since 9/11,” the FBI set out to examine the reasons White supremacist groups have attempted to increase their recruitment of current and former members of the U.S. Armed Forces and the impact of such recruitment on the White supremacist movement.

“The identification of current and former members of the U.S. Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard) in the extremist movement draws exclusively from FBI case files from October 2001 to May 2008. It is based on the assumption that military veterans involved in White supremacist extremism may exploit their access to restricted areas and intelligence or apply specialized training in weapons, tactics and organizational skills to benefit the extremist movement,” said the report.

The report adds, “FBI reporting indicates extremist leaders have historically favored recruiting active and former military personnel for their knowledge of firearms, explosives, and tactical skills and their access to weapons and intelligence in preparation for an anticipated war against the federal government, Jews and people of color. FBI cases also document instances of active duty military personnel having volunteered their professional resources to White supremacist causes.”

Capt. Redding, said the USMC conducts extensive pre-screening and analysis of individuals prior to their enlistment—and even after they are enlisted—to ensure recruits adhering to those types of ideologies or maintaining those types of associations are eliminated. The USMC will prosecute anyone found engaging in that type of activity according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he added.

“Overall, the military and all of the services, we are a reflection of society (and) no matter what we try to do to as far as trying to weed out those individuals who would not be good Marines or good soldiers, we still get individuals who harbor certain feelings and thoughts and some of those people will change their minds once they are in the military, and unfortunately some of those will not,” Capt. Redding said in a telephone interview from his office at the Pentagon. “Throughout the time that they are in the Marine Corps in particular—we are still actively seeking, searching and looking for those individuals and will prosecute them (using) all available military means to get them out of the military once we figure that out,” said Capt. Redding who has served in the USMC for 20 years.

Capt. Redding did admit however, that if an individual adhering to hateful ideologies was able to get through the process, complete a tour of duty without incident and held their views, in check, there would be nothing the USMC could do to stop someone from speaking to White supremacist groups or even using the training to train others. “They no longer fall under our jurisdiction during that time period,” said Capt. Redding.

Tyranny or justified action?

The Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law is often cited as justification for restrictions on the use of the military to participate in any domestic security issue such as a civil disturbance, counterterrorism, homeland security or any other type of domestic police work.

Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 1385 reads: “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution of Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a Posse Comitatus or otherwise execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years or both.”

Capt. Redding said the distinction between the military and state law enforcement still exists and that active military has always been involved in a limited fashion if local law enforcement officials or the National Guard were overwhelmed or ill equipped to deal with a particular situation, which is not a violation of the Constitution or any laws.

“In general, if the federal government is called in to do a federal type of mission, then the federal government is in charge with the coordination of the local and state officials there,” said Capt. Redding.

Mr. Sullivan said he believes the problems within the military, and possibly the reasons for wanting to even enact such a force deployment are symptoms of larger issues brought about by the “incompetence and malice” of the Bush Administration resulting in a “bloody five-year occupation” of Iraq and the lack of understanding of the Constitution and overstretched troop levels and responsibilities.

“It is really important for us in the waning days of the most despicable, incompetent, (and) malicious administration in U.S. history to take a look at this last initiative of deploying active duty troops on American soil,” said Mr. Sullivan.

Related links:

Many fear militarization of police is a sign of problems to come

Justifiable Homicide: Black Youth In Peril

America embraces Nazi tactics in march toward unjust war

Secret ties between CIA, drugs revealed

By Steve Schmadeke | Tribune reporter

Michael Glasper, 39, of Riverdale filed a federal lawsuit alleging Chicago police framed him for robbery.

Zbigniew Bzdak/Tribune

A Riverdale man alleges in a federal lawsuit that his girlfriend’s attempt to do a good deed by returning a cell phone found in an alley turned into a nightmare when police framed him for a robbery.

Michael Glasper, 39, served 2 years of a life sentence before winning—on a motion he drafted himself in prison—a new trial that ended with his acquittal in July.

The lawsuit alleges that Chicago police targeted Glasper in the robbery of a South Loop parking lot cashier after learning he had two convictions for armed robbery in the 1990s.

Police manipulated the robbery victim—the sole witness—to identify Glasper as the robber, the suit alleged.

A city Law Department spokeswoman said she had not seen the lawsuit, filed last week, and had no immediate comment.

Glasper came to the attention of police after his girlfriend, Jantae Spencer, returned a cell phone to the robbery victim. Glasper said the two had found the phone March 16, 2006, near Columbia College, where Spencer taught a creative writing class.

The robbery took place at 155 W. Polk St., nearly half a mile west the same day they found the phone.

Spencer scrolled through the phone’s contacts, called its owner and then drove two days later to the Buena Park neighborhood on the city’s North Side to return it.

Police wanted to know where she got the phone. Glasper said he encouraged Spencer in a phone call to cooperate.

“I said, ‘Go ahead, talk to them—you’ve got nothing to worry about,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

Within an hour or so, police arrested him at the couple’s Riverdale home.

“It went from me being curious to worried to actually scared,” Spencer said.

Glasper was held without bail and then found guilty at a bench trial in September 2006.

Spencer, struggling to pay her bills and his legal fees while staying in graduate school and raising a daughter, said she grew despondent.

“I was so upset with the system . . . that there was no way I thought he was going to get out,” she said. “I felt like the whole system did this to him, not just police.”

The lawsuit does not specify how police allegedly manipulated the sole witness. But attorney Elizabeth Wang, who is representing Glasper, said the victim gave an initial description of the robber as someone 7 inches shorter than Glasper. The victim denied at trial making that statement, she said.

Police also never searched the couple’s home for a gun, Wang said, even though one was used in the robbery.

Moments after pulling up his sweater to show a scar from where he was stabbed in the back while in prison, Glasper said he never lost hope, drafting his appeal himself at the prison law library and eventually finding an attorney to argue it.

“To be honest with you, I kind of was upset,” Glasper said of his reaction to the guilty verdict, “but I couldn’t give up.”

sschmadeke@tribune.com

Lichen Lending Library
1921 S Blue Island Ave, Chicago, IL 60608 (Google Map)
(Pilsen, a block East of S Ashland Ave & W 19th St)
8-9 pm

Our next Copwatch organizational meeting will be held Thursday December 18, 2008 at the Lichen Lending Library! If you are interested in helping plan the future of Copwatch, you must attend a meeting, where we will learn how to fight against police brutality through community patrols, education, and direct action! The meeting is, of course, free and open to all members of the public who are not affiliated with a law enforcement agency.

Email contact@chicagocopwatch.org or call (312)402-7949 for more information.

It’s called an informant plant. The Odessa narcotics unit illegally compelled an informant to plant drugs on Yolanda Madden. The informant testified in federal court he planted the drugs on her and he passed a polygraph confirming the same. Yolanda also passed a polygraph along with a hair follicle and urine test. Our broken criminal justice system ignored the evidence and railroaded her through court sentencing her to 8 years in prison.

Her father hired KopBusters, a new reality show produced by NeverGetBusted, whereby Barry and Candi along with their detectives set up stings across America to catch crooked Kops.

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.

KopBuster’s attorney, Adam Reposa, was handcuffed and later released when eleven KopBuster detectives arrived with the media in tow to question the illegal raid. The police refused to give KopBusters the search warrant affidavit which is suspected to contain the lies regarding the probable cause.

The team of eleven freedom fighters wore red "Free Yolanda" shirts as they clashed with the police demanding answers for the illegal raid and the drug plant. The police would not comment but later stated they were trying to charge KopBusters with a crime.

It is not illegal to grow plants under a light in your home but it is illegal to lie on an affidavit and plant drugs on a citizen. This operation was the first of its kind in the history of America. Police sometimes have other police investigating their crimes but the American court system has never dealt with a group of citizens stinging the police. Will the police file charges on the team who took down the corrupt cops? We will keep you posted.

Peace, Love and NeverGetBusted

Examine The Evidence…Altered Police Reports

With murders up 16 percent, Chicago Police officials Friday announced they are launching a second Mobile Strike Force unit to work in high-crime neighborhoods.

Through Friday morning, there had been 487 murders in Chicago, up from 421 at the same time last year, police said.

Violent crime is up 2.6 percent and property crime is up 2.8 percent, figures released Friday show.

The Police Department launched the Mobile Strike Force in October to replace the Special Operations Section, which was shut down last year after the arrests of several officers for robbing and kidnapping citizens.

In Chicago, a former Chicago police officer was convicted December 3 of conspiracy for stealing thousands of dollars from drug dealers. Mahmoud Shamah and his partner, Richard Doroniuk, were also accused of stealing $30,000 from a police evidence locker in 2006. Doroniuk testified that he and Shamah routinely carried crack cocaine to plant on suspects, paid informants for bad information, and even bribed a judge to approve an arrest warran

“Our top priority is to target the gangs and dismantle their criminal enterprises so that they can no longer spread violence,” Supt. Jody Weis said in a statement.

Like SOS, the team is sent to high-crime areas to suppress crime.

Since deploying the new unit under a new commander, unit officers have seized 26 guns and arrested 200 people, including 74 street gang members. The officers have been working on the Far South Side in the Calumet and Gresham districts. The number of murders in Calumet dropped in November, according to the latest statistics.

The new strike force team patrolled the Austin District on the West Side on Friday night.

A 19-year-old man was charged this morning after Chicago police said he pointed a gun at an officer. The officer then fired, wounding the man in the leg.

The incident occurred last week on the South Side.

Leroy Harris was charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and aggravated assault after police said he pointed his gun at a plainclothes officer in the 9400 block of South Lafayette Avenue shortly after midnight Wednesday.

The officer told Harris to drop his weapon and — when he didn’t — fired, grazing Harris on his leg, police said. It was unclear if Harris had to be taken to a hospital for treatment.

A weapon was recovered at the scene. This afternoon, Harris appeared in court where a judge ordered him held in lieu of $25,000 cash bail, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The Independent Police Review Authority usually handles incidents involving officers discharging their weapons, but their spokesman did not immediately return calls for comment.

Thursday, the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing Chicago’s police officers, annouced it would pay for the criminal defense of indicted former Detective Jon Burge, 60. This may cost the Union millions of dollars. The Chicago Tribune wrote a letter asking Second City Cop, an anonymous blog where officers discuss their perspectives, about the union paying for Burge’s defense. Shortly afterward this post was written topic:

We got quite a bit of abuse for not having this story up instantaneously when it broke this morning. We even got e-mail from Eric Zorn asking why this wasn’t a front page subject….We don’t understand all the machinations behind the decision. On one hand, Burge was never convicted of criminal wrong doing and all the allegations of torture remain just that - allegations. There has never been a trial, never been a hearing, never been a single piece of evidence introduced in court that would tie Burge or any of his co-defendants to torture….We’ll withhold judgment on the merits of paying for Burge until we see the reasoning behind it. It’s not nearly as cut and dry as the media would have everyone believe.

Anyone with a brain can see that Burge was a thug and torturer. However it seems a lot of Chicago police officers and family don’t have brains, as seen in the comments area. The following quotes are from Second City Cop. Here are some representative responses thanks to the Chicago Tribune:

God bless John Burge and his family. This is a political witch hunt by the U.S. Attorney. FOP should pay the legal bills.

Please don’t waste the money of all the good officers who are still contributing via their monthly dues. Don’t force us to vote to have the FOP decertified.

Probably through some end around, Daley made the FOP foot the bill for Burge’s defense.

Jon Burge is a great man. I’m proud to help with his legal defense.

[Bad word] Eric Zorn….He’s a liberal piece of [bad word] that deserves no more attention than any other media scum who read this blog!Who the [bad word] cares if this [bad word] breathes?

I’ll just interject here to say that while the gentleman is entitled to his opinion, it’s a classic criticism of reporters that they don’t make an effort to find out what “real” cops think; that they too often lap up what the brass serves them. Isn’t it good that “media scum” read their blog?

Anyway, more representative comments below.

I didn’t count the pros vs. cons — the result would hardly be scientific — but it’s clear that the rank and file are split on this, and it’s my sense that if the FOP decision were put to a vote of the membership as one commenter suggested, it would pass:

The city should be defending Burge. I glad the FOP is, but it’s the city’s problem. His allegation of perjury was in a deposition related to an investigation while he was a boss. That’s the city’s nickel that should be spent.

Burge should get the $ from FOP - all this crap happened on duty.

We work in a city that doesn’t care about the working police, the city could care less about the effects of a BS lawsuit on a police officer, only that the city is not held liable.

Congratulations to the F.O.P. for taking such a courageous stance.

Zorn needs SCC to do his leg work.

Should FOP offer a explanation to the membership why they are willing to spend a large amount of money for Burge? There should be some accountability. SCC, that is a compliment that Eric is sending you email.

The legal expenses of Burge for the allegations/charges of lying to the feds while he is a CIVILIAN DO NOT meet those established guidelines. … FOP, instead of using FOP members’ money, should … sponsor a FUND RAISER this way the members who feel they want to support BURGE can do that and maybe FOP will not be sued for violating their fiduciary responsibilities to the members that do not agree.

In one way I applaud the FOP for backing Burge, as the fact is he locked up MANY [very bad people] and MANY of those animals deserved a lot more than what they actually got. Things were a lot more under control in this country in the “good ol’ days.” On the other hand, if the FOP didn’t pay legal bills for many of the other coppers charged with wrongdoing, I don’t quite understand why they are now. Unless of course it’s political in some way.

This is a federal witch hunt, spurred on by the liberal media and a bunch of useless reverends and aldermen.

The FOP should not pay for Burge. He allegedly did not tell the truth at a deposition. The cost of lawyer should be his. I don’t see how we FOP should pay. Something is wrong. Where is Mark Donahue hiding?

Like everything else, Daley controls the FOP. He doesn’t want Burge convicted and singing like a canary. Thus the paid defense.

One can not put on a uniform and commit a criminal act then expect FOP to pay for a defense. The fund is designed to defend officers that are performing a police function. Not stealing from or beating people.

No one is saying Burge and the boys did anything wrong except the bad guys.

It is a witch hunt. Stand for Burge now so in the future such witchhunts will not occur. I only wish they put this much time into hunting down criminals.

As far as I am concerned Burge, O’Hare and Yucaitis are heroes. The Wilson brothers should not have made it to any lock up, let alone trial!!!

No one here likes Burge. But he was on duty and under orders to do what he was alleged to have done. Therefore he deserves the legal rep.

Burge is not a hero, hes a sadistic idiot who gives good coppers a bad name. I hope he rots in a cell with OJ.

Was Burge even a member of the FOP when he committed the act alleged in the indictment? No. He was not. He was a civilian, retired for a number of years at the time. He was not indicted for anything that occurred on the job…The indictment is for perjury. that most definitely did NOT occur while on duty but rather, while retired. A civilian. Why is this? Why do we blue shirts get to foot the bill for this? This has nothing to do with anything done on duty or during the course of acting as police. He is alleged to have lied to the Fed years after he retired.

I support Jon Burge and if he has a benefit I will gladly pay $100 per ticket just to have my picture taken with him! He is a Chicago Icon and a True American Hero…. Long live Jon Burge!!!!!!!

I say pay the tab. It isn’t for Burge, it is the principal, these are {BS] charges. From a 40 yr vet.

The people in the African-American community who are calling for his head should be the one’s lining up to pay his legal defense. He did what was necessary to protect THEIR neighborhoods and THEIR children, for the most part.He put guilty scum in prison.

Donahue is pulling out all the stops, getting all of his staff and the mayor’s staff to add comments here to try to form a consensus opinion that he was right to back up Burge. what a jag!!!!

A PO did something off duty and hurt some people. FOP wouldn’t help. Why then are they helping this guy who is charged with lying to the Fed while he was officially retired and a civilian?

If anyone wants to pay extra, feel free. I would like my dues money saved for on duty defense of members.

I loathe Jon Burge and don’t think the Fraternal Order of Taking Care of the Elected Officers should pay a dime for his defense. However, the ironic thing is he is in this particular portion of the trickbag because he and the other retirees in [U.S. Atty Patrick Fitzgerald's] sights took the advice of the City attorney and testified in the civil case against the city. Therefore, and ,this is funny, the city should pick up the tab. The indicted should have just asserted their constitutional right to keep the hell quiet.

Paying Burge’s fees is the right thing to do. All you newbies couldn’t hold a candle to that man!! I can’t believe all you so-called Chicago Police Officers would let him hang out to dry! You are an embarrassment to this job!

Burge should be defended. I believe that FOP is looking at the larger picture here and what is at stake financially if Burge is found guilty. It will open up the door for further indictments of Detectives who worked under Burge, some who are still on the job. Imagine the cost involved in defending several compared to defending one.

if Mark Donahue and the rest of the empty holsters at the FOP want to pay for Burges’ legal fees they should be able to do so, out of their own pockets. They should not however be able to do so with the money that was taken out of our checks without at least 51% of the memberships vote.

Burge needs to be defended so that a precedent of harassing retired officers (who were never convicted) is not set. No officer needs to go through that after he’s (or she’s) served his time in hell.

Burge was doing what was expected of him now he is [screwed].

FOP NEWS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE 12/05/08 — emphasis added

The Board of Directors of Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge No. 7 will provide legal defense for our member Jon Burge in the latest round of allegations made against him. The Lodge, by no means, condones the actions that have been alleged in this latest round of charges brought against Jon Burge. Attorneys and civic and political leaders have made their livings and reputations by fueling the media with stories that have caused Jon Burge to be the “poster child” of alleged police torture in this City for an entire generation. All the while, he has never been convicted of any wrong doing. This same legal and political pressure is now the impetus for alleging perjury in statements made five-years-ago, by a 60-year-old man, about incidents alleged to have occurred more than 25 years ago — and it’s not fair.

Chicago’s City Council has created this atmosphere by settling cases with millions of dollars to convicted murderers and arsonists, the most serious of criminals in Illinois. These most recent allegations are the apparent result of the Corporation Council’s Office farming out their work.

Now my members will pay, not only financially, but with their pride. This fiasco only lowers the morale in this Department which is at its lowest levels in my 32-year career. The bottom line here is that with the absence of solid evidence to convict on allegations of wrongdoing for the past 30 years, all that is left are the words of these convicted criminals and their spokespeople against the word of a Police Officer — and the FOP will stand with the Police Officer every time.

Emmanuel Lopez was shot and killed by police on the Southwest Side Sept. 16, 2005.

According to the Chicago Tribune off-duty Chicago police officer Pedro Solis, who fired 11 of the 16 shots that struck Lopez, admited drinking before being involved in the car chase that led to the death of 2005 Emmanuel Lopez.

Only a few weeks Cook County prosecutors closed a two-year long probe into the shooting with the conclusion that Lopez was at fault and no further action need be taken against the officers. Apparently those involved with the investigation claim to be unaware of Solis’s drinking. I guess it’s just another example of Cook County just getting it wrong. No big deal. But a closer examination of the evidence suggests a deliberate and wide spread cover up on the part of Cook Country.

The shooting happened in an alley at 37th Street and Kedzie Avenue. It was there that the 23-year-old food company janitor was hit mostly in the back and head by 16 of the more than 40 slugs police fired in his direction. Police said at the time that Lopez nearly got into an accident with Solis, after which police pursued him. The officers pinned Lopez’s car against a pole. When officers exited their vehicle, police say Lopez backed into a female officer, and then went forward, running over her partner and pinning him under the vehicle.

“He’s underneath the car, up to about his chest, holding on as the guy is putting on more and more speed, trying to get away. The tires are squealing. The officer at that point opens fire on the offender,” said Chicago Police Department spokesperson Pat Camden back in 2005.

Police claimed the pinned officer, Brian Rovano, was dragged 8 to 10 feet under Lopez’s car, caught under a spinning tire and yet was still able fire some of the shots 40 shots fired from that night including one that stuck Lopez. The Cook County medical examiner’s office had explained the trajectory of the Rovano bullet as a “ricochet.” But the examiner’s report had suggested only that the bullet passed through another object before striking Lopez. And there was a corresponding hole in the driver’s seat that matched the bullet in his back, according to the lawsuit. Things that make you go Hmmm.

However acording to a CBS Chicago report attorney Terry Ekl, who is representing Lopez’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit, says this recounting of events does not add up. He claims that not only did the officers fire shots at Lopez without provocation butthey also fabricated evidence that Rovano was run over by Lopez’s car.

“His right leg is under a 4,000-pound car, the tires are spinning on his leg, and after that, he goes to the hospital and he is uninjured,” he said.

Either the Cook County medical examiner’s office is grossly undereducated or Rovano is the real Die Hard.

William Bozdiak, retired FBI expert, hired by the Lopez family wrote a report challenging the police contention that tire prints on Rovano’s pants were made by the wheel of Lopez’s car lurching onto his legs. The report alleged that the prints were made by someone hand-rolling an unmounted tire over a pair of empty pants laid flat.

“Both (tire) impressions are characteristic of the type of impression that is obtained when taking a tire and rolling that tire by hand across a surface, in this case pants legs,” Bozdiak’s report said.

Further, Ekl said, “It’s his right leg underneath the left tire. Why in the hell are there tire tracks on his left (pants) leg?” A tire supporting a vehicle would do far more damage to pants, with or without a leg inside, than these tire tracks indicated, the report said.

Scene of the crime September 2005.

All of this damning evidence was backed up when Rovano acknowledged under oath that he was not dragged by Lopez’s car and that the Honda moved a maximum of 4 or 5 feet after it bumped into Rovano. So how did Cook Country come up with this story? Well it’s becoming pretty clear to anyone, it was a cover up.

When the lawsuit was first filed Police Supt. Phil Cline, who was at the scene that night, said Lopez who was on his way to work was drunk and had shown that he was dangerous.

“The number of times (he was shot) may seem like a lot but if the threat is still there, the officers are going to continue to shoot,” Cline said. “They have to protect themselves out there and they want to go home to their families at the end of the night.” And that shooting was, in his words, “within policy.”

Ekl said his opinion was “that Chicago Police officer first shot and killed a man who was unarmed, without justification, and then had the audacity to engage in further criminal conduct by inventing and fabricating evidence.”

He called the case representative of the worst police conduct he had seen.

“I have been a lawyer for 36 years. I have been a prosecutor, I have been a defender of police officers.… I have never seen anything remotely close to the egregious nature of the behavior of police in this case,” Ekl said. “I have never seen anything like this. Thirty years ago, I wouldn’t have believed the police did this.”

While Cline had said Lopez had been drinking at the time of the incident, Ekl said this would not justify the shooting on its own.

“Is Cline saying that if a man’s been drinking, that the police have a right to kill him and fabricate evidence?” Ekl said. “If he’s saying that, he has no right to be the superintendent of police.”

Ekl attacked the city’s policy surrounding police roundtable discussions, which determine whether a police officer is acting within departmental guidelines when he or she uses deadly force. The most serious problem, Ekl said, is that it is the Police Department, and not a third party, that conducts the investigations.

Lopez was an undocumented Mexican immigrant who had been in the United States for six months, said Guz Munoz, another attorney in the case. When asked if his legal status might have played a role in police’s motive to fire shots, Ekl said…

“I would hope not. I would hope that they didn’t do this because of his immigration status, and that they didn’t think anyone would care about him… but I can’t say I believe that.”

Munoz said he and Ekl hoped an investigation by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office would yield criminal charges against the officers.