CPD lieutenant accused of misconduct sues city, says he’s victim of bias
Chicago Police Lt. Glenn Evans, who has faced allegations of misconduct and abuse, is claiming that former colleagues at the Independent Police Review Authority held grudges and improperly targeted him in their investigations.
In a separate lawsuit filed last month, he also alleges the Police Department’s human resources director racially discriminated against him because of “unwritten policies.”
Evans, a 31year CPD veteran, filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court Friday against the city and six current or former employees of IPRA, the agency that investigates police misconduct. He filed a case with similar claims in U. S. District Court in July 2016. That case has since been dismissed.
He also filed a federal lawsuit last month claiming the CPD human resources director tried to force him to retire. He says the director, Donald O’Neill, denied Evans’ request for back pay and restoration of rank and benefits; Evans alleges that denial was based on his race and on “direct orders” or “unwritten policies” within the city and Police Department.
Evans had been demoted from commander to lieutenant and assigned to desk duty “against his wishes,” the lawsuit says.
Evans was acquitted of criminal wrongdoing in December 2015when Judge Diane Cannon said she didn’t trust the testimony of Rickey Williams, who alleged Evans shoved a gun down his throat during a 2013 arrest.
Evans had also been accused of shoving a woman, Rita King, in the nose and breaking her eye socket after she refused to be fingerprinted following a 2011 arrest for a domestic disturbance.
Friday’s suit in the circuit court alleges Matrice Campbell — one of the six current or former IPRA employees listed as defendants in the suit — “has harbored animosity” toward him since Evans filed an insubordination complaint that led to her suspension in 1999. Evans was a sergeant at the CPD’s Second District, where Campbell worked in the administrative office.
The lawsuit claims Campbell leaked confidential details of the IPRA investigation to a reporter for public radio station WBEZ- FM with the intention of hurting Evans. The leak allegation was apparently supported by Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s quarterly report in January, which included findings that a former investigator leaked a confidential IPRA memo about the agency’s investigation of a high- ranking Chicago Police official. Sources identified the official as Evans.
An IPRA spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday evening.
Vic Henderson, the attorney representing Evans in both cases, couldn’t be reached for comment.