'Severely Intoxicated And Naked' Alderman's Son Not Deemed Danger

WINNETKA, IL — The son of indicted Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, Edward W. Burke Jr., was considered a "clear and present danger" by police last summer in Winnetka after he was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery.

According to police reports and 911 tapes, officers from Glencoe, Kenilworth and Winnetka were dispatched to his Elder Lane home around 5:15 a.m. on June 29 for a call that he was heard shouting profanities and breaking items around his house while "naked and highly intoxicated."

Burke Jr., 46, whose hiring by a leading candidate for mayor amid a misconduct investigation into his time working for the Cook County sheriff has become a political issue ahead of next month's election, continued to engage in "belligerent behavior" and yell at officers after being taken into custody, according to police and video from the back of a Winnetka squad car.

Police said a Kenilworth officer had encountered Burke earlier that evening, giving him a ride home around 1:45 a.m. after a friend called police to ask for help transporting Winnetka resident. Officers were told Burke awoke at home around 4:30 a.m. and began to destroy furniture and became verbally and physically aggressive toward a family member.

Police were notified Burke kept two loaded guns in his home, the interior of which appeared to have been ransacked with damaged items strewn about the interior. Two Glock 9mm handguns were recovered from the home and turned over as a condition of bail later that morning. Winnetka police then submitted paperwork to Illinois State Police seeking to revoke Burke's firearm owner's identification card.

"It is up to them to decide, after they review the incident, if the FOID card is revoked or not," Winnetka Deputy Chief Brian O'Connell said in July. "We have certain criteria that we have to meet for our policy to submit the form." (Under a so-called "red flag" law that took effect Jan. 1, the procedure for seeking the revocation of gun licenses has been amended to allow for firearm restraining orders.)

But ahead of his scheduled court date, Burke showed up in court in Skokie and obtained a handwritten order lifting the order that he not possess firearms and refrain from intoxicating substances as the charge of domestic battery was dismissed just 72 hours after his arrest. Court records show the complaining witness declined to testify, and prosecutors elected to drop charges on the Monday following a Friday arrest. No lawyer is listed on the July 2 order lifting the conditions of Burke's charges.

Burke Jr. told the Tribune in July the events leading up to his arrest had been "distorted" and that the incident was related to a "post-traumatic stress injury."

Two months before his arrest in Winnetka, Burke Jr. had resigned from a Cook County position he acquired with the aid of both his father and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle despite questions about possible misconduct at his previous county job.

Burke Jr. was under an internal investigation at the Cook County Sheriff's Office in 2014 for being "consistently disrespectful of women," including talking about sex acts and claiming he had a war chest of millions of dollars to run for sheriff himself and "tapes" that would "humiliate" Sheriff Tom Dart, the Chicago Tribune reported. After meeting with Burke's indicted father, Preckwinkle hired his son for a position that is not exempt from political appointments.

While under sheriff's office investigation, Burke Jr. began job hunting in 2014, and his alderman father — himself being investigated by the FBI — met with Preckwinkle to discuss hooking up his son with a job. For the next three years, Burke Sr. began donating thousands of dollars to Preckwinkle's campaign fund, including hosting a January 2018 fundraiser at his home that raised $116,000, including $10,000 from the owner of a fast food franchise the alderman is accused of attempting to extort.

“I had a meeting with Ed Burke,” Preckwinkle told reporters last week. “He shared with me that his son was looking for a new opportunity."

In December 2017, Burke Jr. resigned from the sheriff's office before he could be interviewed by the sheriff's Office of Professional Review and landed a roughly $100,000-a-year job with the Cook County Department of Homeland Security as a "training and exercise manager," according to the Tribune. (The preferred qualifications for the job included a master's degree in emergency management, which Burke does not have.) A spokesperson for the board president and candidate for Chicago mayor told the paper Preckwinkle's office was unaware of any investigation at the sheriff's office. However, a reporter was able to obtain records of Burke Jr.'s employment with the sheriff with a public record request under the Freedom of Information Act.

In May 2018, Burke Jr. resigned from his county position with a salary of $110,000 for unspecified reasons, amid questions about whether he could provide documented proof of his previous employment, according to the Tribune. He's last position in the sheriff's office was as Dart's assistant chief deputy. He was previously a chief of the sheriff's warrant unit.