Chicago police superintendent retiring

CHICAGO — Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced Thursday that he’s retiring after more than three years in the post that he took over during one of the most violent chapters in the city’s history and after public outcry over the release of a video showing an officer shooting a black teen 16 times.

During a news conference in which Johnson announced his retirement, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said he’d agreed to serve through the end of the year. A successor hasn’t yet been named.

“These stars can sometimes feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world,” said Johnson, whose uniform includes four stars on each shoulder. “This job has taken its toll, taken a toll on my health, my family, my friends.”

Johnson, who joined the force as a patrolman in 1988, signaled earlier in the week that he was thinking about retirement. He said the decision would have nothing to do with an investigation into a recent incident in which he was found asleep behind the wheel of his SUV at a stop sign and his admission to Lightfoot that he’d had a “couple of drinks with dinner” that night.

Johnson, a native Chicagoan, held just about every rank in his career on the force, which spanned more than three decades. He was named superintendent in 2016 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Johnson set out to beef up his force, presiding over an effort to hire more officers that has increased the size of the force by about 1,000 and the expanded use of technology and police body cameras.