Mayor Lori Lightfoot fires Chicago?s police superintendent weeks before his retirement
Chicago mayor fires police superintendent weeks before his retirement
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CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot fired police Superintendent Eddie Johnson effective immediately Monday for intentionally misleading her and the public about his conduct when he was found asleep in his running vehicle at a stop sign after a late weeknight out in October.
“This moment needs to be a turning point for the Chicago Police Department and the way things are done in this city,” said Lightfoot, emphasizing that a “culture change” must take place.
The stunning announcement came just weeks after Lightfoot held what she referred to Monday as “a celebratory press conference” to announce Johnson’s retirement by year’s end after about 3 1/2 years at the helm.
Former Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck, previously named Johnson’s interim successor, took control of the beleaguered department after flying into Chicago on Monday afternoon. He and the mayor separately met with the department’s top brass.
Sources told the Chicago Tribune that the city inspector general’s office, which has been investigating the October incident, obtained video footage showing Johnson drinking for a few hours on the evening of Oct. 16 with a woman who was not his wife at the Ceres Cafe, a popular restaurant and bar at the Chicago Board of Trade building.
Later that night, when officers responded to a 911 call near Johnson’s home in the Bridgeport neighborhood about 12:30 a.m. Oct. 17, Johnson rolled down the window on his police vehicle partway, flashed his superintendent’s badge and drove off, sources said.
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Lightfoot Tweets Trump Should 'Go Back to DC and Face His Fate'
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After President Donald Trump criticized Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson during a speech in the city, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she is standing by her top cop.
"President Trump knows as much about policing as he does running a fair and transparent government," she tweeted Monday afternoon, shortly after Trump's speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago.
Johnson, who is hosting the conference that Trump addressed, previously said he would not attend the speech because he thought the "values of the people of Chicago are more important" than what Trump would say.
Trump took notice and addressed Johnson's absence within the first few minutes of his speech.
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"Luckily, in this city, we know the truth and we will not let anyone — no matter how high the office — denigrate who we are as a people or our status as a welcoming city," she wrote on Twitter. "Rather than belittle Chicago's communities with hateful and dishonest rhetoric, he needs to go back to D.C. and face his fate."
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