April 06--Disciplinary proceedings began Tuesday for a veteran Chicago police officer fighting his firing over allegations he lied to investigators about shooting 16 times at the wrong car during an off-duty incident, wounding its driver.
Megan Zmick, a special assistant corporation counsel representing interim police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, argued in opening statements at the Chicago Police Board hearing that Officer Francisco Perez should be fired not only for lying to investigators from the police oversight agency but also for shooting an "innocent bystander."
But Perez's lawyer, Daniel Herbert, contended that Perez had fired at the right car after one of its occupants shot three people, one fatally, outside a Mexican restaurant in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood early one morning in November 2011.
"The hero is on trial today, and we're going to ask for a finding of not guilty," Herbert told hearing officer Jacqueline Walker.
Carlos Rodriguez, a cook at La Pasadita, a restaurant in the 1100 block of North Ashland Avenue, testified through an interpreter that he ducked after hearing shots as he sat in a Chrysler double-parked in front of the restaurant.
According to authorities, an occupant in a red car had opened fire after pulling up beside the Chrysler, wounding the three.
Rodriguez testified he then heard a second series of shots -- an apparent reference to Perez, a security guard at the restaurant, opening fire. Rodriguez said he realized he had been shot after "I felt something warm" and saw blood. He drove off a few blocks and called 911, he said.
Four of the 16 shots fired by Perez with his 9 mm service weapon hit the Chrysler, wounding Rodriguez in the back.
Perez has been stripped of his police powers since the Independent Police Review Authority recommended his firing last April for being "inattentive to duty." That marked the first time in its then-nearly eight-year history that the police oversight agency had recommended an officer be fired for shooting someone. Then-Superintendent Garry McCarthy also signed off on Perez's firing in July.
The case against Perez largely hinged on video footage obtained from a surveillance camera at the restaurant that IPRA said clearly showed a red Mitsubishi Galant involved in the drive-by shooting had sped away by the time the officer opened fire at Rodriguez's blue Chrysler 300M.
Even after viewing the video last year, Perez stuck with an earlier statement he had made to an IPRA investigator that he had fired at the red car, which prompted IPRA to recommended that he be fired as well for making false statements to investigators.
Testimony is expected to resume at the Police Board hearing April 20. If the board decides to fire him, Perez can appeal the decision to the Cook County Circuit Court.
jgorner@tribpub.com
