RIALMO’S RETURN?
Is embattled Chicago Police Officer Robert Rialmo this/close to going back
on the street?
Attorney Joel Brodsky tells Sneed his client, 29-year-old Rialmo — who is awaiting word on whether he will be disciplined by the Chicago Police Board for the shooting of 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier and his father’s neighbor, Bettie Jones — just passed a “fitness for duty” exam conducted by the Chicago Police Department.
“He [Rialmo] told me he passed a battery of psychological tests this week and was found fit for duty,” said Brodsky, who called Sneed from Europe.
“Depending on what the Chicago Police Board does, he is just waiting to be assigned to regular duty and taken off desk duty,” added Brodsky.
Last month, a Cook County jury effectively said Rialmo was justified when he opened fire on LeGrier in December 2015 and killed Jones, an innocent victim, in the crossfire. The city settled the case with Jones’ family before trial for $16 million.
Subsequent to the 2015 shootings, Rialmo was involved in two separate altercations. He was found not guilty in the first incident, in which he punched two men at a Northwest Side restaurant in December.
However, an internal affairs probe was opened involving the second altercation, which took place in a pub in July, and the “administrative component” of the investigation was to be handled by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA).
But on Thursday, new Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety Joe Lipari — in his first published report since being confirmed by the City Council last month — claimed COPA acted prematurely when it publicized its findings that Rialmo was NOT justified when he shot and killed LeGrier and Jones.
“COPA’s late-December 2017 release of the Rialmo Report risked creating the appearance of an accountability system susceptible to external pressure,” Lipari found.
“He [Rialmo] is keeping a real low profile, not going out ... and realizes he is a potential target out there ... and he just wants this over,” Brodsky said.
“His father is a fireman and he’d eventually like to go over to the Chicago Fire Department. But he needs to put all this behind him to get it done.”
Tips & twaddle . . .
First daughter Tiffany Trump soaking up the Mediterranean sun last week in Greece alongside party gal BFF Lindsay
Lohan. No bad girls incidents to report.
... Blimey! It looks like Meghan Markle is still not speaking to her father, who lives in Mexico and was disinvited from her wedding to Prince Harry for having a big mouth.
Star sightings. . .
Looks like La-La Lollapalooza was as big a celeb draw as Oprah Winfrey was during her TV glory days in Chicago.
In town: DJ sensation Kaskade spotted with a large group at RPM Steak on Friday before his Studio Paris Nightclub performance.
THE SPICER RACK . . .
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, whose career took a major nosedive after being lampooned by Melissa McCarthy on “Saturday Night Live,” declined to answer Museum of Broadcast Communications czar Bruce DuMont’s query Wednesday on whom he considered the best and worst of the Washington press corps.
However, he felt Sarah Huckabee Sanders was doing a great job as President Donald Trump’s new flack and “Was as tough as nails. No pushover.”
Later that day, Spicer had dinner at Harry Caray’s on Kinzie, stopping for a photo with Caray’s statue and accommodating 10 customers with cameras snapping away. His tablemates? Victoria’s Secret model/Leo DiCaprio’s ex Erin Heatherton, Cubbies Anthony Rizzo, Ian Happ and Addison Russell.
Ditto for Walk the Moon drummer Sean Waugaman; singer Fletcher; actress Courteney Cox; the Bachelor’s Nick Viall; Taraji P. “Empire” Henson with former NFLer Kelvin Hayden; and NHL defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
Sneedlings . . .
Kudos to the folks who gave birth this weekend to the newly opened CARE animal shelter (Community Animal Rescue Effort) at 4927 Main Street in Skokie, and the person who just paid for the front-leg surgery for the crippled bulldog named Ellie . ... Today’s birthdays: Kylie Jenner, 21; Antonio
Banderas, 58; and Andre Drummond, 25.