At least five Chicago police officers — including a commander — face suspension after city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s investigation into the October 2019 incident where then-police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was found asleep at the wheel of his city-issued SUV, the Tribune has learned.
Deering District Cmdr. Don Jerome, the highest-ranking officer of the five, was to receive up to a 28-day suspension for his role in the incident, according to sources familiar with the matter. Reached by telephone Tuesday afternoon, Jerome declined to comment.
At least four officers facing punishment from the Chicago Police Department included a lieutenant who was to receive up to a 21-day penalty, sources said. Details about their roles in the case will likely be disclosed as soon as Friday, when Ferguson releases a summary of his investigation in his office’s quarterly report.
Chicago police officials had no comment, and a spokeswoman for the IG’s office did not immediately comment on the case. The conduct that brought Jerome the suspension was not immediately disclosed.
Among the officers under investigation by Ferguson in the Johnson case was an officer who went drinking with Johnson hours before he was found slumped over in his SUV.
The security detail officer, who was Johnson’s driver, was accused of removing a SIM card from a cellphone that had been sought as evidence by Ferguson’s office. SIM cards store data on cellphones. It has not been disclosed whether the officer faces a suspension or any other punishment.
Jerome, a 26-year veteran of the department, was promoted to commander of Deering in 2019, where the Johnson incident took place, several months prior.
In 2012, he was honored at the White House by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for capturing two armed robbery suspects in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood and freeing six victims, three of them children, who had been bound by duct tape in a store. The efforts earned Jerome an award from the National Association of Police Organizations.
Ferguson opened the investigation into Johnson’s conduct shortly after he was found asleep at the wheel at 34th Place and Aberdeen Street in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the night of Oct. 16, 2019. Johnson publicly blamed the incident on his failure to take blood pressure medication but privately told Mayor Lori Lightfoot he had “a couple of drinks” with dinner that evening, which she disclosed in an interview with the Sun-Times.
The following month, Johnson announced his intention to retire during an emotional ceremony attended by Lightfoot at police headquarters, the same event where the mayor acknowledged to reporters she would likely be interviewed by the IG’s office. But weeks later, Lightfoot announced she was firing Johnson because he’d lied to her about the incident.
At the time, Ferguson continued to investigate the case and did not give Lightfoot a full report until earlier this year. The city so far has declined to release it, citing legal reasons.
An ordinance backed by the mayor last fall allowed the city’s corporation counsel to decide whether to release full inspector general reports in investigations that involve a death, or that involve or could involve a felony, and that are “of a compelling public interest.” Kathleen Fieweger, the Law Department’s spokeswoman, has defended the city’s withholding the report on Johnson, saying that it covered no conduct that rose to a felony.
Lightfoot has also said the full report in the Johnson case does not meet the standard to be publicly released.
After Ferguson provided the mayor’s office with a copy of his report, Lightfoot released some body camera footage in June showing that the incident leading to Johnson’s firing started when an unidentified man called 911 to report someone asleep in a vehicle at a stop sign at 34th and Aberdeen, not far from Johnson’s home.
The caller told officials that the vehicle’s lights were off but the engine was running and smoke was coming out of the exhaust.
In footage from a responding officer’s bodycam, also released by Lightfoot, Johnson is at the wheel when the officer asks, “You just sitting here or you wanna go home?”
“I’m good,” Johnson replies.
The officer responds, “You good? All right, sir. Have a good night.”
Ferguson released a summary version of his July quarterly report, which offered a fuller picture of that night’s events. The report said Chicago police trailed their boss home as he ran a stop sign and briefly drove in the wrong lane. Ferguson’s quarterly report raised the possibility of discipline for other officers and said Johnson’s driver also drove home in a city vehicle after drinking with the superintendent that night.
Earlier during the night, Johnson and his driver drank at Ceres Cafe in the Loop, according to details previously reported and Ferguson’s summary of events. Ferguson reported that both drank rum at the bar, famous for its generous pours.
Ferguson’s report does not say when they left the bar. But he wrote that Johnson drove, and around 10:30 p.m. he dropped his driver off at police headquarters in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The inspector general reported that she drove away in her city vehicle.
Johnson then drove toward his home. Security footage showed he parked illegally at 34th and Aberdeen at 10:39 p.m., Ferguson wrote. He remained there with the SUV running until a member of the public called 911 to report someone asleep in a vehicle and officers arrived at 12:33 a.m., according to the report.
