Donnell Burns was shirtless, handcuffed and facedown on the pavement outside of a Walmart on the Northwest Side when police arrived.
Kneeling over him was Adrian Santos III, an armed guard for Monterrey Security who detained the shoplifting suspect by shoving a knee into his neck, according to video of the encounter.
Burns, high on PCP, mumbled something unintelligible when officers asked if he was OK on that afternoon in July last year, police reports show.
Not long afterward, Burns, 23, stopped breathing. He had died of asphyxia during restraint and physiologic stress, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
When police investigated, Santos told detectives he was a sheriff’s deputy in Lake County, Ind., moonlighting for Monterrey, records show. He was wearing a vest with the word “Sheriff” on it.
But Santos was not a law enforcement officer as he had claimed, the Chicago Tribune found. He had been fired from the Indiana agency two years earlier. He also did not have the basic license needed to be a security guard in Illinois and had a prior arrest on domestic violence charges in which a judge ordered him to undergo anger management.
None of that was caught by Monterrey Security, which tells prospective customers that it specializes in background investigations.
The encounter with Burns wasn’t the first time someone was hurt on Santos’ watch while he worked for Monterrey. Seven months earlier, at a Walmart on the Far South Side, Santos was accused of tackling a man and fracturing his pelvis, according to a federal lawsuit.
The situation raises concerns of how Monterrey, a firm fined for a litany of violations dating to 2001, conducts background checks on guards, according to a Tribune analysis.
In September, Monterrey’s contract to provide security at Minnesota Vikings games was terminated over similar issues. And shortly after, the state of New York did not issue Monterrey a license to operate as a security firm to work at Buffalo Bills games, determining that Monterrey “had practiced fraud, deceit and/or misrepresentation,” records show.
Yet the company continues to prosper in Chicago, entrusted with securing high-profile venues like Soldier Field and Navy Pier.
Monterrey was not aware of Santos’ criminal charges before learning about it from the Chicago Tribune and police, said Eric Herman, a company spokesman. Herman added that Monterrey relied on documents provided annually by Santos claiming that he was a police officer.
In December, Monterrey dismissed Santos after he failed to provide those records, Herman said. Santos declined to comment on that allegation.
William Paterson, chief of police at the Lake County sheriff’s department, said Monterrey could have called his agency for confirmation like many other companies do. He said he was appalled that Santos presented himself as a deputy from his office.
“It’s not like it’s something that can’t be found out easily,“ he said. “It’s a breach of trust.”
Now, while Chicago police continue to investigate Burns’ death, they have also opened an investigation into Santos’ statements to police officers and Monterrey.
In a statement, Monterrey expressed sympathy for the family.
“Our hearts go out to Mr. Burns’ family; this was a tragic set of circumstances,” the company said. “Our focus is on protecting people and keeping them safe. Situations involving drug use and criminal activity can be unpredictable, and the results in these circumstances were heart-rending.”
The company added that it had made changes to the way it operates. Earlier this year, it hired a former federal prosecutor to update and improve its compliance, Herman said.
But in the end, Burns’ mother, Inez, is left with overwhelming grief and unanswered questions. She said she misses her son who worked as a grocery store clerk and enjoyed church music.
“They took my baby, my everything, away from my family and I,” she said in Facebook messages to a reporter. “I just want justice for Donnell. Nobody deserves to be manhandled and (choked) to death for no reason.”
Not fit for police
It was not long after Santos started working for Monterrey in February 2014 that signs of trouble emerged.
That May, Santos was criminally charged in Hammond with domestic battery and felony strangulation following a fight with his wife. He was accused of slamming her to the ground and choking her, the bruised wife told detectives in a recorded interview.
While Santos was on leave from the sheriff’s department in Lake County, Ind., a state trooper who pulled Santos over for speeding in April 2015 said that Santos presented suspended law enforcement credentials and drove away before the stop was over. This prompted the sheriff’s department to file further disciplinary charges against Santos.
By July 2015, the sheriff’s department merit board in Lake County had seen enough. Its members voted to fire Santos, records show.
In the domestic violence case, prosecutors dropped charges after Santos’ wife recanted her statements, records show. Still, a judge ordered Santos to see a probation officer and complete anger management courses.
Yet Monterrey never found out about his disciplinary problems or that he had been fired. In his years at Monterrey, Santos never had a license to work as a security guard. The company said that Santos provided documents that he was a police officer.
Santos declined to answer specific questions about his case. Monterrey said it requires officers to provide their police identification card and a signed letter from their chief, as required by state law.
Santos said he didn’t think it was necessary to inform Monterrey about the criminal charges.
“They were going to get dropped from the jump; it just took some time,” he said. “Everybody has their ups and down.”
Santos wasn’t the only guard who is accused of falsely claiming to be a police officer while working at Monterrey.
In 2012, Monterrey received a letter from the Blue Island Park District alerting the firm that one of Monterrey’s guards had provided forged documents. Blue Island had received a call from a police agency checking the candidate’s background. In this case, though, Monterrey eventually dismissed the guard.
Violent encounters
In December 2016, Santos was accused of fracturing a man’s pelvis while working for Monterrey at a Walmart in the West Pullman neighborhood on Chicago’s Far South Side, according to a federal lawsuit.
Hayes White, 24, was inside the store before Santos chased him into the parking lot and tackled him, fracturing his right hip, femur and pelvis, said White’s attorney, Jeffrey Neslund.
Hayes, who was arrested on shoplifting charges that were later dropped, needed multiple surgeries to recover, Neslund said.
Herman, the Monterrey spokesman, said Monterrey disagrees with the lawsuit’s characterization of events. “The man was engaged in theft and injured himself while fleeing,” Herman said.
Walmart denied any wrongdoing in court documents and would not comment on its contract with Monterrey.
Santos continued to work for Monterrey. Seven months later, he had his run-in with Burns.
Last July, employees at the Walmart in the Northwest Side’s Hermosa neighborhood notified Santos about a suspicious shopper, according to detectives’ reports.
The employees saw Burns transferring items from his cart into plastic Walmart bags and exchanging unbought merchandise for a $175 gift card using Walmart’s return policy that doesn’t require a receipt, police reports show.
Santos and two other guards waited near the store exits to stop Burns, but he started running, pushing one out of the way, a report said.
The chase continued outside, where Burns and the guards tumbled to the ground. Burns flailed his arms, hitting the guards in the face, a police report said. A struggle ensued until the guards eventually put Burns in handcuffs.
“Why you gonna turn this misdemeanor into a felony,” Santos said, according to the police report.
The guards started walking Burns inside when he tried to pull away, so they forced him to the ground again, according to the reports. Santos pressed his knee into Burns’ neck while another guard sat on his legs, according to reports and video obtained by the Tribune. Burns told the guards he was “a little high.”
By the time officers arrived and realized Burns’ breathing had stalled, it was too late.
Paramedics turned Burns over, performed CPR and took him to Norwegian American Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The medical examiner found bruises and scrapes to Burns’ forehead and face from being held facedown, according to an autopsy report.
Burns also had a potentially lethal level of PCP in his system and a heart abnormality that put him at risk of sudden death, according to the autopsy report. Both were determined to be contributing factors to his death, which was ruled a homicide. It is common practice in law enforcement not to restrain a person facedown because of the risk of asphyxiation.
Herman defended the guards’ actions, saying Burns’ medical condition could not have been known to the officers.
“Our employees are not medical professionals and can’t determine if someone is on PCP, as was the case here, or has a heart condition, as was also the case,” Herman said in an email.
Detectives initially closed the investigation into Burns’ death in October, finding no criminal acts but reopened it a month later when the medical examiner’s office completed its report.
There is also a parallel investigation over how Santos represented himself to Monterrey and police, said the Chicago Police Department’s chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi.
“The concerns raised by the Indiana Lake County Sheriff’s Department of this individual possibly overstating his affiliation with the department is a significant component of this investigation,” Guglielmi said.
A history of violations
A question that lingers over the case is why Santos continued to work for Monterrey after he was fired as a sheriff’s deputy.
A firm as large as Monterrey, with thousands of workers, has the scale to rigorously check backgrounds of employees, said Mahesh Nalla, a professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University who has researched the security guard industry. It also has an incentive to avoid litigation, he said.
“Some of the bigger companies have much more stringent requirements to be a security guard,” he said.
But Monterrey’s troubles with background checks and record-keeping started soon after it was founded in 1999 by former Chicago police Officer Juan Gaytan Jr. He initially partnered with firefighter Santiago Solis, who was the brother of Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis.
In 2001, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation fined Monterrey $22,000 for operating without a license, employing 38 people who did not register to work with the state, hiring an armed guard who was not authorized to carry a gun and printing “police” on its uniforms, department records show.
The next year, Gaytan resigned from the Police Department facing internal disciplinary charges that he threatened to shoot a person during an arrest and fabricated evidence. The Chicago Police Board withdrew the charges upon his departure. Gaytan said he resigned to focus on Monterrey.
And in 2003, Illinois fined Monterrey again when it failed to register workers with the state despite being on probation from the initial violation, records show.
Santiago Solis left the firm in 2007, records show.
Yet over the years, Monterrey has grown to dominate the security industry around Chicago, winning contracts for Soldier Field, Wrigley Field, Navy Pier, Lincoln Park Zoo, Lollapalooza and the Chicago Marathon, according to its website.
All the while, Monterrey has remained politically active.
Gaytan and his staff gave at least $172,000 to various politicians and political action committees since 2007, according to a Tribune review of financial campaign records.
“Monterrey takes pride in being a civically engaged company,” Herman said, adding, “Many people from other security firms doing business in Illinois have also made political contributions.
Licenses rejected
Regulators outside of Illinois haven’t been as forgiving of Monterrey’s missteps.
In September, Monterrey lost its contract at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis after a report commissioned by the stadium’s management company found a litany of problems.
The report, conducted by the law firm Maslon LLP, said Monterrey didn’t complete some background checks, hired employees with disqualifying criminal records and misrepresented information when it came under review.
A simultaneous inquiry by the Minnesota board of private detectives came to similar findings, prompting officials not to renew Monterrey’s security license late last year.
Monterrey has appealed that decision, alleging “improper coordination” between Maslon and the state board, Herman said in an email. He called the Maslon report a “paid-for smear job done by a private law firm on behalf of a paying client.”
Officials in New York learned of the Minnesota allegations and in October did not grant Monterrey’s application for a security license. While Monterrey’s application was pending, the Buffalo Bills had permitted Monterrey to provide services at New Era Field by subcontracting its agreement with a licensed agency, Herman said.
In a letter to Monterrey, New York officials said they determined Monterrey “has practiced fraud, deceit and/or misrepresentation and/or had demonstrated incompetence and/or untrustworthiness in his actions, demonstrating a lack of good character and fitness for licensing.” Monterrey has also appealed the New York decision, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.”
Herman said New York officials were aware of its temporary arrangement with the Bills.
He also contended that officials in both states have unfairly targeted Monterrey.
“It’s clear that Monterrey’s expansion in the NFL, where security work has long been controlled by a few nonminority firms, pushed those firms into crisis mode and an effort to smear our good name,” Herman said.
In Chicago, Monterrey has received a different reception.
Luca Serra, a spokesman for Soldier Field, which is owned by the Chicago Park District, said Monterrey does an “exceptional job.” He added, “Soldier Field has standard procedures in place to verify that Monterrey employees are appropriately licensed.”
The city’s Department of Procurement Services also followed up on the allegations raised in Minnesota.
In an Oct. 25 letter, Chief Procurement Officer Jamie Rhee sent Monterrey a preliminary notice of ineligibility as a minority business enterprise, a certification that allows Monterrey to work on city contracts.
Monterrey sent a letter of explanation, met with Rhee and submitted a copy of its hiring policy. Procurement officials also visited Monterrey’s headquarters to review its records and licensing information.
“Upon a thorough review, we were satisfied that the information that was provided addressed the issues identified in the news reports, and that Monterrey had demonstrated their continued eligibility in the program,” said Cathy Kwiatkowski, a spokeswoman for the procurement office.
In November, Rhee decided Monterrey was in compliance with city standards.
As for Monterrey’s now-dismissed employee, Santos is back on a police force. In January, he was hired by the village of Phoenix Police Department in south suburban Cook County, state records show. The department said it was unaware of Santos’ charges and didn’t call his Indiana agency before it hired him.
It all leaves Donnell Burns’ mother perplexed. She said every day has been a struggle since her son died in that violent encounter seven months ago.
“It’s hard to get out of the bed in the morning,” Inez Burns said. “I cry all day. I can’t listen to music. I’m devastated.”
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