Judge Backs Decision to Fire Cop In Racially Charged Photo

Former Chicago tactical officers Jerome Finnegan (left) and Timothy McDermott (right) in a court photo with unidentified man first published by the Chicago Sun-Times.

A Cook County judge upheld a Chicago Police Board decision to fire an officer for his participation in a racially charged photo showing him posed with a rifle over an African-American man wearing deer antlers on his head.

Judge Thomas R. Allen backed the police board’s decision to dismiss Detective Timothy McDermott in a court hearing on Wednesday. McDermott had sued to try to win his job back.

Allen said the evidence was “plain and straightforward,” and called the photo “horrible offensive,” the Chicago Tribune reported.

The undated Polaroid photo was taken over a decade ago. McDermott and another detective, Officer Jerome Finnigan, are both squatting over the man with rifles as if he were bagged prey. The unidentified black man in the photo was believed to be a drug suspect.

Finnegan is currently serving a 12-year prison term for running a rogue cop burglary crew. Allen made the photo public after overruling attempts to keep it hidden. The photo was published last month by the Sun-Times.

McDermott was found guilty of bringing discredit on the department through his participation in the photo, disrespecting or maltreating a person on or off duty, and unlawful or unnecessary use of display of weapon, according to the Tribune.

The police board found McDermott guilty in a 5-4 vote in October, and he was fired on the recommendation of Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

During the Wednesday’s hearing, McDermott told the judge that he “loved every minute” of his 17 years as a Chicago police officer. The former officer’s attorney, Daniel Herbert, argued that the dismissal was too harsh and McDermott should not be judged for a “10-second decision.”

Read the full story in the Tribune