Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city’s top watchdog will determine whether there was a cover-up on the night former Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was found asleep behind the wheel of a running vehicle after a night where he was drinking with a female subordinate.
Lightfoot fired Johnson from the department’s top job over his response to an October incident when police officers found him asleep in the driver’s seat of a running vehicle near his Bridgeport home. Johnson initially blamed his behavior on a change in medication, later admitting to Lightfoot that he had a couple of drinks that night.
Sources have told the Tribune the superintendent had been drinking for a few hours with a woman who was not his wife. The woman was a Chicago police officer and a member of Johnson’s security detail, sources said.
Lightfoot cited a report by the city’s inspector general on Monday when she announced Johnson was being axed as superintendent, saying she “saw things that were inconsistent with what Mr. Johnson had told me personally and what he revealed to members of the public.”
At a news conference to talk about the city’s winter preparedness strategy on Thursday, Lightfoot was asked whether she’s concerned there was a cover-up or if Johnson received a pass from other police officers that night.
“I’m not going to get into that,” Lightfoot said. “Any of those issues fall within the province of the investigation the IG is conducting and I’ll see what the facts are once we get the final report from the IG.”
Asked whether Johnson violated any policies relating to the security detail member’s employment, Lightfoot said she suspects “that will be part of the issues the inspector general takes a look at, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself and prejudge that.”
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Lightfoot also wouldn’t say how much of the inspector general’s report would be released, saying the investigation is ongoing and she doesn’t want to get ahead of the facts.
Once Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson completes his report, the city’s top lawyer “will evaluate the evidence and facts and make a determination as to whether or not all or part of the report and the underlying supporting evidence gets released to the public,” Lightfoot said.
Johnson on Tuesday denied he intentionally lied to the mayor or the public but admitted that he made “a poor decision and had a lapse of judgment” on the night in question.
“That was a mistake and I know that,” Johnson said in a statement issued by his attorney. “I have no interest in fighting a battle for my reputation with those that want to question it now.
Responding to his statement, Lightfoot said Thursday, “Obviously I took the action that I took based upon conversations that I’ve had with him about that evening and then getting a fuller frame of facts from the inspector general’s report.”
“But at this point, Superintendent Johnson is no longer superintendent, no longer a member of the Chicago Police Department, and it’s really time for us to move on and make sure we’re doing everything we can to support the important work of the police department which is about saving lives and keeping people safe throughout the city,” Lightfoot said.
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