Firing Of Will County Sheriff's Deputy Upheld By Judge

JOLIET, IL — The Will County Sheriff's Office administration of Sheriff Mike Kelley and chief Deputy Dan Jungles learned this week that an arbitration judge ruled in their favor, agreeing with their decision to fire sheriff's deputy Andrew "Andy" Schwartz, following a road rage incident in Joliet that led to a head-on collision along Plainfield Road that sent a New Lenox family to the hospital.

The ruling goes on to explain, "I cannot overturn a penalty unless I find it unreasonable ... After careful examination of the record ... I cannot find that the decision by the county to terminate Grievant was unreasonable ... I note that Grievant followed the other vehicle for approximately 10 minute, violating numerous traffic laws and greatly exceeding the speed limit. Finally, his behavior culminated in serious injuries to six individuals. Had Grievant simply left the matter to the authorities, the injuries could have been avoided. Based on the entirety of the circumstances, I cannot find that the County's decision was unreasonable and I will not overturn it," arbitrator Steven Bierig declared in his written 19-page ruling issued on Tuesday.

According to the arbitration judge's ruling:

On April 4, 2021, Schwartz was off-duty and driving his personal pickup truck when he had an incident with another motorist and chose to follow that motorist at a high rate of speed, violating several traffic laws. Schwartz called 911 to notify dispatchers about the incident, and Schwartz was told he did not have to pursue the fleeing vehicle and that Schwartz should stop the pursuit.

Schwartz's pursuit lasted more than 10 minutes and ended when the fleeing car crossed the center line on Plainfield Road and crashed head-on into an SUV, injuring four people, including two children. All four suffered serious injuries, needing to be hospitalized.

On Feb. 7, 2022, Will County Sheriff's Lt. Dan Troike of Internal Affairs issued his findings, determining that Schwartz's "road rage incident" violated several Will County Sheriff's Office rules of conduct, including: conduct unbecoming, conformance to laws, adherence to directives and altercations.

Schwartz's immediate supervisor, Sgt. Kyle Lakomiak, recommended Schwartz receive a three- to five-day suspension, indicating that Schwartz was forthcoming with his behavior, had not had any current discipline issues and his overall work performance has been very good as a traffic officer and crash reconstructionist.

On the other hand, Deputy Chief Jeremy Viduna indicated that Will County's command staff unanimously agreed that Schwartz be fired "due to the egregious nature of the incident which (Schwartz) could have prevented had he exercised good judgment. DC Viduna testified that the command staff determined that (Schwartz's) commendations did not outweigh the seriousness of the incident, and that (Schwartz) took no accountability for any of his actions that resulted in an accident with serious injuries."

Although Schwartz was originally charged with the felony crime of aggravated reckless driving, he later pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor offense of aggravated speeding, fined $1,500 and put on 12 months of conditional discharge with a return court date of Feb. 7, 2024 for a status hearing before the Will County judge.

According to the arbitration judge's ruling, Schwartz and the Sheriff's Union argued that he should be entitled to his job back. They argued Schwartz had nearly 14 years of service with Will County, including many awards and commendations. His only prior discipline was a three-day suspension that Schwartz took full responsibility for and did not contest. Twenty-five of Schwartz's co-workers provided unsolicited sworn depositions attesting to Schwartz's character, integrity and work performance, and "each said they would be proud to work with him again. Further, every supervisor who has given (Schwartz) a performance evaluation has given him the highest rating possible in almost every category," the ruling noted.

Here are the key findings as to why the arbitration judge found in favor of Sheriff Kelley and his administration, rejecting Schwartz's attempt to get his deputy job back:

"It is often held that the public sector employees are held to a higher standard of conduct because of the public employer's interest in maintaining the public's trust ... However, if an employer, of either the public or private sector, is to impose discipline for off-duty misconduct, a clear and nexus between the misconduct and the workplace must be established. Further, the majority of arbitrators hold that the connection between the off-duty conduct and injurious effect on the organization must be reasonable and cannot be mere speculation.

"In this case, when I examine (Schwartz's) undisputed off-duty conduct ... I first find no evidence to suggest that (his) actions either adversely affected his ability to perform his job or that any other employees refused to work with (him) ... There was no testimony by any individual, including command staff, who said they either refused to work with (Schwartz) or felt his actions adversely affected their ability to perform their jobs.

"However, I do find that Grievant's actions harmed the employer's business. It is well established that damage to employer's reputation can be considered an element of harm ... Particularly, in the public sector, adverse publicity surrounding the conduct can establish a workplace nexus. Here, the details of the April 4 incident were published by local media news outlets ... In this case, I find not only a nexus between Grievant's former job duties and the off-duty conduct, but also conclude that an adverse inference can reasonably be drawn from the media publicity."