“It was unclear at what point Cmdr. Glenn Evans allegedly placed the barrel of his service weapon into the suspect’s mouth,” chicagotribune.com reports. Despite the Trib’s deployment of the word “allegedly” it seems pretty clear that’s exactly what Cmdr. Evans did. “DNA from the man was found on Evans’ gun, according to a State Police lab report.” That said, innocent until proven guilty!
Despite the fact that “Evans is among 662 officers with 11 or more complaints during a five-year period in the 2000s, newly released police records show. He had 14 complaints between 2001 and 2006 and faced no discipline for any of them, the records show.” Evan’s boss, Supt. Garry “Guns Are the Problem” McCarthy, is a big Evans fan.
In fact . . .
During an unrelated news conference Monday at a West Side police station, McCarthy gave a stern response to a reporter when asked whether he supported Evans despite IPRA’s recommendation to have him relieved of his police powers.
“I’m not going to answer that question. That’s absurd. Do I support him? If I didn’t support him, he wouldn’t be there,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy continued to defend Evans, explaining how the commander was working through two high-profile incidents in his district over the weekend: the accidental shooting of a 3-year-old boy, and the shooting of an armed teenager by police that sparked protests.
“I’m sorry, do you know that Cmdr. Evans was working from 9 o’clock Friday morning until about midnight Saturday …? You don’t,” McCarthy said. “And you also don’t know that Cmdr. Evans was on the scene of the police-related shooting last night on Sunday evening to ensure that there was not a problem on the streets. So you really should have some context when you ask questions like that.”
Context. Given the info above – 662 officers with more than 11 complaints lodged against them – and the recent revelations that the Chicago police have been cooking the books on crime stats, you’d think Supt. McCarthy would avoid that term. Which just goes to show you don’t have to be Jewish to have chutzpah. [h/t DD]