Oak Lawn Cop Charged With DUI, Aggravated Assault, On Paid Leave

An Oak Lawn police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave and stripped of his police powers after being accused in March 2014 of driving under the influence and assaulting two police officers in Manhattan, IL.

A Will County criminal complaint states that Daniel Miller drove his Nissan Maxima while drunk and then pointed a gun at two Manhattan police officers on March 23, 2014.

Following a nearly seven-month-long investigation by the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, the 45-year-old patrol officer was charged with misdemeanor DUI and two misdemeanor counts of aggravated assault on Nov. 13, 2014.

Miller, who earned $92,678 in 2013 according to the village’s latest available salary figures, is currently out on bond.

“This was one of those situations when an arrest wasn’t made on the scene,” said Chuck Pelkie, a spokesman for the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office. “We conducted an investigation and subpoenaed records with regards to the allegations. Once we got all the records we needed, we filed the charges.”

The arrest warrant lists Miller’s employer as the Oak Lawn Police Department, according to Will County records. He is also a Marine reservist who served three tours in Iraq.

Pelkie said the investigation and subsequent charges were conducted in consultation with the Manhattan Police Department.

“Anytime we have these kinds of crimes involving those who served and military veterans, we want to make sure what the [Will County State’s Attorney’s Office] is doing reflects both his service and what happened at the scene,” Pelkie said. “We wanted to make sure that the Manhattan police were fully aware and on board with how we proceeded on this case.”

Oak Lawn Police Chief Michael Murray said Miller was placed on paid administrative leave last March, when the allegations first came to light. Miller was also required to turn in his service weapon.

“It’s a criminal matter,” Murray said. “It’s a little early to predict his future. We’ll let matters take their own course.”

Murray added that the police department has also opened an internal investigation into the charges and accusations against Miller, which is ongoing.

“It may be resolved before or after the criminal proceedings,” the police chief said.

Miller’s attorney, Eugene Fimbianti, said that his client achieved the rank of Marine sergeant-major and served three tours in Iraq, including the Battle of Fallujah in 2004, said to be the fiercest urban combat fought by the U.S. Marines since Vietnam.

“He lost 19 guys under his command,” Fimbianti said, who is representing Miller pro bono. “I think there are issues that have haunted him. I hope the [Will County criminal justice system] takes into account what he went through over there.”

Fimbianti also said his client has a clean disciplinary record, both in the Marine Reserve and the Oak Lawn Police Department.

A federal lawsuit naming Miller as a co-defendant was filed over an incident that occurred in May 2003, when Miller -- in police uniform -- allegedly knocked a citizen unconscious and broke his jaw in a 7-Eleven parking lot in Alsip. The lawsuit was later dropped after it was determined that the court summons had not been properly served.

Fimbianti said that Miller was not disciplined internally by the Oak Lawn Police Department for the incident.

“I was a cop for 23 years,” the attorney said. “You won’t find a cop out there working anywhere who hasn’t been summoned into federal court.”

Fimbianti said Miller, who resides in Manhattan, had only recently returned from another tour of duty in Iraq before the incident last March.

The attorney doesn’t know the circumstances of why Miller has been accused of pointing a gun at the Manhattan cops because he hasn’t seen the police reports, only the criminal complaint. (Patch has filed a Freedom of Information request with the Manhattan Police Department.)

Fimbianti did acknowledge that most defendants accused of pointing a gun at a police officer are charged with a felony, not a misdemeanor, as in the case of Miller.

“It took almost seven months for the Will County State’s Attorney to make a decision on this,” Fimbianti said. “When you consider the nature of the charges, most people would normally be charged within about 30 minutes. I don’t think Dan Miller did anything wrong that night or set out to commit a crime. I also think [the Will County prosecutors’] backs were against the wall.”

Patch editor Joseph Hosey contributed to this report.