Top Cop Was Drinking Before Falling Asleep Behind Wheel: Mayor

CHICAGO — Chicago's top police officer said he had been drinking before he was found asleep behind the wheel of a parked car early Thursday. Superintendent Eddie Johnson said he had a "couple of drinks with dinner" earlier in the night, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Johnson, 59, said he pulled over a few blocks from his home after feeling lightheaded. Around 12:30 a.m. police got a call of a person asleep at a stop sign at South Aberdeen Street and 34th Place. Officers did not conduct any sobriety testing and permitted their boss to drive himself home . Johnson has ordered a "complete investigation" into the incident.

"Everybody, whether its a superintendent or a beat patrol officer, has to abide by the rules and there's an investigation that's open and we'll see how that plays itself out," Lightfoot told "The Fran Spielman Show" Friday.

Johnson has attributed the incident to a failure to take medication to treat high blood pressure.

"He told me he was driving home, he felt ill and he pulled over to the side of the road," Lightfoot said. She added that Johnson had given her the heads-up of his involvement in the incident and volunteered he had consumed alcohol earlier that night.

The mayor she took the superintendent at his word, and it was premature to say whether proper procedures were followed.

"We've got to let the investigation play itself out. He's a grown man," she said. "He had a couple of drinks with dinner, is what he told me."

Johnson told reporters that field sobriety tests are only conducted when a drive displays some sign of impairment, such as smelling of alcohol or cannabis. He said he ordered an internal affairs investigation to "avoid the appearance of impropriety and just have total transparency."

Johnson said he recognized the feeling of being about to pass out due to high blood pressure, which happened at a January 2017 press conference with former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In August 2017, Johnson received a kidney transplant. In June, Johnson was hospitalized for a weekend for treatment of a small blood clot that found in his lung during a stress.

"Your body kind of gives you a warning with the high blood pressure thing that you may pass out," he told reporters. "So I pulled over, stopped and I just rested myself until that feeling passed. ... I fell asleep."

Anthony Gugliemi, chief communications officer for Chicago police, said there were no signs of impairment or intoxication. He said Johnson asked for an internal investigation of the incident because of a belief officers and their boss should be "held to the highest standard." The investigation will be conducted by the public integrity unit of the internal affairs division, whose officers work out of the FBI's Chicago office. Lightfoot said the video of the incident will be released eventually, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Related: CPD Top Cop Found Slumped In Car, Orders Investigation On Himself