Suspension Overturned: Joe Clement Gets $10K In Back Pay

JOLIET, IL —Joe Clement, the recently retired Joliet Police officer who drew a five-week unpaid suspension from Chief Al Roechner stemming from the September 2019 downtown Mexican festival, scored a significant settlement as part of an effort to restore his professional reputation.

Joliet Patch reached out to Clement Tuesday after learning that interim city manager Jim Hock approved a settlement regarding Clement's appeal of his 200-work hour suspension from being aired in front of the city's police and fire board later this week.

Clement's entire suspension was rescinded from his personnel file and he is being reimbursed $10,266 for the 25 days of lost wages from earlier this year. Clement said he agreed to accept a written reprimand from the city for a code of conduct violation. In retrospect, Clement said he was cited for not reporting the allegation to a working police supervisor.

Clement told Patch that he had an exemplary personnel file during his 27-year career with the Joliet Police Department. He is an elected official on Joliet's Park Board. Clement also has taken out petitions to run for one of the three at-large seats on the City Council in the April 6, 2021 elections.

"The City of Joliet agreed they went way overboard in suspending me for 25 days and agreed to return the salary I was denied as a result," Clement told Joliet Patch. "I did everything by the book in this matter, and I retired from the police department in August. If they want to put a retroactive statement in my file saying that I did something wrong in order for them to save face, it really has no effect on me. I had a great track record as a police officer, and I could not be more proud of my service.

“The fact that more than one confidential personnel record was leaked to the media for political purposes in violation of federal and state privacy laws is the main reason I decided to retire from the police department and run for City Council," he said. "When you have a police chief who is more interested in settling scores and covering up his actions than maintaining public safety, it’s time for a drastic change.”

On numerous occasions, different Joliet police officers have told Patch that Chief Roechner runs the department by intimidation and retaliation through his internal affairs division.

Last week, Roechner orchestrated the arrest of Joliet Police Sgt. Javier Esqueda on multiple counts of official misconduct related to the Eric Lurry investigation from January. The Joliet Police Department handled the criminal investigation of its own supervisor instead of having an independent agency take the case.

Esqueda was the whistleblower who notified a Chicago television station that he suspected fellow Joliet police officers appeared to be involved in corruption and evidence tampering in regard to the squad car's camera and audio system involving Lurry's death.

(Article continues below this photo of Chief Al Roechner.)

Joliet Patch called Roechner seeking comment for the Clement story, but he did not answer.

For weeks, the chief's city cell phone has indicated that his voicemail box is full and that he cannot accept new messages at this time.

"I settled this case because I did not want to spend one more hour fighting against the police administration about a written reprimand for a job that I no longer hold, when I need to spend those hours campaigning to get on the City Council so I can fix the systemic police problems for the entire city, not just for me," Clement remarked on Tuesday.

As to the night in question that led to his disciplinary measure, Clement said he was off-duty volunteering at the downtown Mexican festival, an event he has attended in the past.

Joliet Police Sgt. Lindsey Heavener was on duty at the time. "I made an off-the-cuff comment that I believed the sergeant could have had a couple (alcoholic drinks) ... I did not report it, I just made a comment."

On the night of the festival, Joliet's chief waited about eight or nine hours before taking action, Joliet Patch has previously reported. The chief rode with Heavener to a local hospital and then issued a subsequent report indicating that Heavener's blood-alcohol concentration was negative as a result of a blood draw and urine screen.

On Jan. 3, Roechner sent out a memo to his entire department notifying everyone that Clement was getting a five-week unpaid suspension as a result of the Mexican festival fallout.

When Clement retired Aug. 1, the chief did not send out a notice to the rest of the department, as is often customary when officers retire. Clement said he returned to the police station Aug. 3 to return all his police gear, but Roechner refused to produce Clement's retirement ID, which is customary.

Clement said he had to eventually get Interim City Manager Jim Hock to intervene and resolve the issue on his behalf.

"I want to thank my family and all the people of this community and my coworkers who supported me and a lot of them realized this was a big sham," Clement told Joliet Patch. "The general public should be asking the police chief why it took him nine hours to investigate the allegation that (Heavener) was intoxicated?

"The only conduct unbecoming of a police officer in this matter was committed by the police chief," Clement told Joliet Patch. "As far as I'm concerned, this matter is over, and I'm moving on."

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Let's Put Joe Clement's 25-Day Suspension In Perspective

Joe Clement: Retired Joliet Detective To Run For City Council

Lindsey Heavener, Foe Of Mayor, Launches City Council Bid