Arbitrator Overrules Joliet's Police Board: Olson Made Sergeant

JOLIET, IL — On May 19, Joliet Police Officer Rich Olson's promotion to a sergeant's position was rejected by Todd Wooten and the city's police and fire board because of lingering issues related to Olson's 24-day unpaid work suspension from a November 2018 incident.

This week, a dramatic change of events unfolded, and Joliet City Clerk Christa Desiderio swore Olson in as the Joliet Police Department's newest sergeant. How did that happen?

Turns out, Olson appealed the decision denying his promotion, and arbitrator Edwin Benn issued a written ruling, overturning Wooten and the city police and fire board. He ordered that Olson's promotion to Joliet police sergeant take effect retroactively, to May 18.

At the May meeting, Wooten, along with retired officer Brad Price and Rev. Craig Purchase voted to deny Olson's promotion despite facing pressure from new city manager Jim Capparelli and around a dozen Joliet police officers who attended the City Hall meetings and spoke on Olson's behalf as he sat next to them.

Only new board member Rosa Hernandez voted in favor of Olson. Board member Quinn Adamowski did not attend the meeting for the vote.

Joliet Patch reported in May that Olson's promotion was rejected because he fled a traffic crash in November 2018 and later agreed to accept a 24-day unpaid suspension from Police Chief Al Roechner.

Officials told Joliet Patch that Olson had completed his traffic patrol shift that night and was still driving his Joliet squad car when he saw somebody on the east side of Joliet supposedly commit a traffic violation in the area of State and Ohio Streets.

The off-duty officer turned on the flashing blue and red lights, and the motorist fled. The fleeing motorist darted west, went over the Jackson Street Bridge and accelerated up the hill with Olson giving chase. Along Bridge Street, the fleeing car came to the T-intersection at Center Street and crashed into a tree.

The driver had a female passenger inside his car. The woman remembered seeing a Joliet police officer shine a light in her direction, and then the policeman drove off.

Olson did not notify police dispatchers of the wreck. He also did not notify any on-duty Joliet officers that he was pursuing a fleeing vehicle.

Olson has been a patrol officer with Joliet since June 18, 1998.

Wooten told Joliet Patch he is confused by the arbitrator's ruling. Wooten said that Olson's version of events for why he fled the scene of the crash and chose not to notify any on-duty police or paramedics to the wreck was not believable.

Wooten said that Olson was just a couple blocks away from Joliet Fire Station No. 5, yet he chose not to alert the paramedics that a car he was chasing just crashed into a tree.

"We denied Olson's promotion not only because of the severity of the charges and seriousness of the offense, but also because he was not forthcoming," Wooten told Joliet Patch's editor Thursday.

"The story he gave us had zero credibility. He had no excuse for a police radio with dead batteries, and he said that his cell phone was in the cup holder, but he looked down, and it was gone, and he decided that he would search for his cell phone (the next day).

"His story was so unbelievable that Commissioner Price and I tried not to laugh in his face. I was insulted by the story because there was nothing about it that was believable."

Wooten said that one of the reasons Olson gave the board for not reporting the crash was that he feared he would be the recipient of harsh discipline from Chief Al Roechner.

"I find that unbelievable that Officer Olson would think that when Lt. Jeremy Harrison fled a scene six months before, off-duty, allegedly intoxicated, and switched drivers and got in no trouble at all," Wooten said on Thursday.

Joliet Patch has written several articles about Harrison's case, revealing that the Joliet Police administration chose not to issue any discipline against Harrison for that incident. Lt. Marc Reid ran Joliet's internal affairs unit at the time.

Reid recently retired and became a sergeant in Elwood.

Wooten mentioned that Mayor Bob O'Dekirk recently spoke up during a Joliet City Council meeting, suggesting there is a war on police right now. Now, the arbitrator's ruling leaves Wooten frustrated with ongoing efforts to bring more accountability to the Joliet Police Department.

"By giving Olson the promotion, it shows how misguided the whole debate is," Wooten told Patch. "Because people believe there's a war on police. There's not any war on the police. There's a war on police misconduct. That's the war, and the war is failing."

The following are the key documents from arbitrator Edwin Benn's decision to grant Officer Olson a promotion to sergeant, rejecting Joliet's police and fire board's denial: