Mayor Lightfoot Fires Eddie Johnson Over 'Intolerable' Conduct

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced she fired Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson for cause Monday morning, six weeks after he was found passed out behind the wheel in an incident she says he lied about to her and the public.

Johnson had announced his retirement amid an investigation into his conduct and had been scheduled to leave office at the end of the year. Lightfoot said Interim Superintendent Charlie Beck was on a flight to Chicago as she addressed reporters.

Johnson was found unconscious in an unmarked police SUV near his Bridgeport home by officers responding to a 911 call after midnight Oct. 17 at South Aberdeen Street and West 34th Street. He later admitted having "a couple drinks" beforehand, Lightfoot told reporters the next day. The officers allowed him to drive away without performing any field sobriety tests.

Johnson blamed a mix-up involving his blood pressure medication and called for an internal investigation into himself. Lightfoot said she recently reviewed materials from an ongoing inspector general's probe into the incident and terminated Johnson's employment for cause, effective immediately.

"It has become clear that Mr. Johnson engaged in a series of actions that are intolerable for any leader in a position of trust," Lightfoot said. The inspector general's report "makes clear that Eddie Johnson engaged in conduct that is not only unbecoming but demonstrated a series of ethical lapses and flawed decision-making that is inconsistent with having the privilege of leading the Chicago Police Department," the mayor said.

"Johnson intentionally misled the public in a press conference he called, on Oct. 17, 2019. He was not caught off guard, and he had plenty of time to choose his words, and the choice he made was to communicate a narrative replete with false statements, all seemingly intended to hide the true nature of his conduct from the evening before," she said.

"Just like with the public, Eddie Johnson intentionally lied to me, several times, even when I challenged him about the narrative that he shared with me. He maintained that he was telling the truth. I now know definitively that he was not."

Lightfoot declined to disclose any details of the investigation or specify about what Johnson lied to her.

"I don't feel like it is appropriate to Mr. Johnson's wife or children to do so at this time," she said. "I hope we can all take care to treat them with dignity and respect."

The mayor said the inspector general's office is continuing to investigate conduct by other members of the department in connection with the incident. She made no mention of Johnson's level of intoxication or the circumstances that led him to dismiss his driver for the night and take the wheel himself.

Lightfoot's office did not immediately respond to a query about when she viewed the video of the incident or whether it was definitive in convincing her that the city's top cop had lied to her. Less than two weeks after the incident, a pair of police sources told Patch that Johnson's account of the incident did not match the bodycam video.

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The mayor said she would have fired Johnson immediately if she had known the truth of the incident. There was "no gray area," she said.

"I certainly would not have participated in a celebratory press conference to announce his retirement," Lightfoot said. At that Nov. 7 press conference, the mayor asked reporters not to ask questions about the investigation into Johnson's conduct.

The Chicago Police Department needs a culture change with leadership focused on "integrity, honesty, legitimacy and accountability," Lightfoot said.

"Time and again, line police officers are held responsible for their actions, but their supervisors get a pass, even when the supervisors were aware of, or directed, the conduct at issue," she added. "Perhaps in years past, someone in Mr. Johnson's circumstances would have been allowed to simply retire. Doing so today, in these circumstances, would have been inconsistent with who I am and with the kind of principled leadership I want to bring to the city."

Lightfoot praised the work of Chicago police officers and said they deserve a leader in whom they can believe.

"The old Chicago way must give way to the new reality," Lightfoot said.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Mayor Lightfoot to make an announcement from City Hall. Tune in! https://t.co/jFXWVBlqMu
— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) December 2, 2019