Disciplinary panel suspends CPD sergeant for 6 months

A unanimous police disciplinary panel has suspended a Chicago police sergeant for six months without pay after he admitted that he unjustifiably used deadly force when he shot an unarmed teen with developmental disabilities in an off-duty incident two years ago.

The 7-0 decision by the Chicago Police Board on Thursday short-circuited the usual process that takes months to play out as administrative charges are filed and hearings on the evidence are held. The Police Board’s eight-page decision noted that the shooting victim, Ricardo “Ricky” Hayes, has “an intellectual disability” that makes it impossible for him to be called as a witness at hearings. No one else witnessed the shooting on the Far South Side, the board said.

Even before any charges had publicly been filed before the Police Board, Sgt. Khalil Muhammad agreed to admit he violated various department rules in return for the recommended sixmonth suspension — a punishment that has been criticized as inadequate by attorneys for the 18-year-old wounded in the 2017 shooting as well as a Chicago police sergeant who filed a whistleblower suit against the city over the case.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police shootings, had concluded that Muhammad acted in an “objectively unreasonable” fashion yet initially recommended only a suspension of 90 days without pay. After consulting with then-Superintendent Eddie Johnson, though, COPA agreed that Muhammad’s punishment should be doubled to six months without pay.

But attorneys for Hayes and Sgt. Isaac Lambert, whose whistleblower lawsuit alleges the department tried to cover up the circumstances of the shooting, have said Muhammad should have been fired.

Among its findings, the Police Board held that Muhammad acted “without lawful justification” when he used force “likely to cause death or bodily harm without a reasonable belief that such force was necessary.”

COPA’s 30-page investigative report, obtained by the Tribune in a public records request earlier this year, said Muhammad had ended his late-night patrol shift in the Calumet District later than usual on Aug. 13, 2017. As he neared home in the Morgan Park neighborhood, he said he saw a suspicious black male by his next-door neighbor’s car shortly after 5 a.m., COPA said. Muhammad said he recalled that an officer who lived nearby had a gun and wallet stolen.

Muhammad, dressed in civilian clothes, told investigators in his initial interview more than a month after the incident that he identified himself as a police officer and asked Hayes what he was doing but that Hayes said something and ran off. After making a U-turn, Muhammad said he again announced his office to Hayes and said, “Let me see your hands,” the report said. Muhammad told COPA that Hayes turned toward him, reached back with his right hand and started to pull a dark object out of his waistband — actions, he said, that were “consistent with someone pulling a weapon.”

Still sitting in the driver’s seat of his girlfriend’s SUV, Muhammad said he feared for his life and fired his 15-shot Glock 9 mm semiautomatic pistol twice. Shortly after the shooting, a neighbor found a black cellphone near where Hayes had been standing. Hayes suffered a through-andthrough wound to his left armpit and a graze wound to his upper left arm. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and treated.

Muhammad later told investigators that Hayes also had taken several steps toward him at the same time as he reached back and pulled out the dark object, according to COPA’s report. COPA found that a preponderance of the evidence — meaning it was more likely than not — showed that Muhammad’s decision to

Ricardo Hayes reportedly has an intellectual disability that makes it impossible for him to be called as a witness at hearings.

open fire was “objectively unreasonable” and that an officer “with similar training and experience” would not have found that Hayes posed an immediate threat.

To back up its decision, COPA concluded that:

■ Muhammad, clad in a hoodie, could not reasonably expect Hayes to obey his oral commands because he was not obviously a law enforcement officer.

■ Muhammad had no reason to believe Hayes had committed a crime, let alone a violent one, or to believe he was armed and dangerous.

■ Hayes posed no immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm to Muhammad.

Faced with a much tougher standard of proof — beyond a reasonable doubt — the Cook County state’s attorney’s office declined to bring criminal charges against Muhammad.