Grieving Chicago cops direct anger at CPD second-in-command



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Chicago police officers unhappy with Mayor Lori Lightfoot over his reform policies are also directing their anger at the Deputy Commander of the Chicago Police Department.

First Deputy to the Police Superintendent. An enraged Eric Carter officers gathered at the Cook County medical examiner’s office on Saturday evening to give a final farewell to their slain colleague, Ella French.

Ignoring a sacred ritual, Carter said impatiently, “We don’t have 20 minutes for this shit. He demanded that the Chicago Fire Department ambulance carrying French’s body be taken directly to the medical examiner’s office, skipping the traditional Emerald Society bagpipes game.

“We don’t wait for the bagpipes. Go ahead and put the vehicle in, ”Carter heard on one recording.

“Take everything inside. Do not stop.”

Former Chicago Police Superintendent. Garry McCarthy has said the ritual of death in the line of duty of a Chicago police officer is “sacred.” For the department’s second in command, ignoring it is not just a sacrilege, it is an “inexcusable” affront to the rank and file officers Carter is charged with leading, he said.

“When Cliff Lewis was killed and his fiancée arrived at the hospital, I took her to another room and sat her down and explained to her what had happened. And she completely lost it. When I say she lost it, she was basically rolling around on the floor, ”McCarthy said Tuesday.

“Do you know what I did?” I was on the emergency room at Christ Hospital, rolling with her, trying to hold her back and comfort her. The sensitivity of a slain officer. The manipulation of the family. Manipulation of the body. It’s a bit sacred.

Asked about Carter ordering to speed up the process, McCarthy said, “There’s always enough time. Let’s put it that way. If we had to wait two or three days, I would have done it.

When asked if Carter could regain the respect of the rank and file officers, McCarthy said, “It would be an exaggeration to think that they would want to support a leader who does not respect something so sacred.”

Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st) served the city as a firefighter and police officer. Its Far Northwest Side is home to many Chicago police officers.

Napolitano admitted that Carter was under tremendous stress the night French was killed and his partner was seriously injured. But, he said, that’s no excuse for his cavalier behavior.

“Just give them that respect right then, that these officers needed because that’s what creates this post-traumatic stress disorder that they’re going through all the time in this war zone of a city that we have.” Taking that away from them at that point was a mistake, ”Napolitano said.

“I hope it was just a miscalculation or something done by mistake. But the way it was presented, the appearance, it’s just terrible. You don’t do that to your soldiers at all. .

DPC spokesperson Don Terry was asked if the superintendent. David Brown agrees with the way his deputy superior handled the situation at the medical examiner’s office.

“No comment beyond reminding you of what an emotionally difficult and painful night that has been – and continues to be – for everyone involved,” Terry wrote in an email to The Sun-Times.

The town hall declined to comment.

Lightfoot faces his own political backlash after a traffic stop on Saturday night in West Englewood left a Frenchman dead and his partner fought for his life after being shot by one of the men in the stopped car .

The mayor has been told on several occasions that the injured officer’s father, himself a retired Chicago police officer, did not want her on the floor of the University of Chicago Medical Center where her son was being treated in the intensive care unit. But Lightfoot ignored his wishes and received a lick from the father.

Soon after, Lightfoot stepped out into the hallway and suffered one last indignity. The officers gathered to pray for French, and his injured partner turned his back on the mayor as he approached.

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