The Chicago Police Board is set to announce Thursday night whether disciplinary action will be taken against four officers who stand accused of covering up for Jason Van Dyke.
In August 2016, CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson filed charges against Sgt. Stephen Franko and officers Janet Mondragon, Daphne Sebastian and Ricardo Viramontes. The four were accused of either giving or approving knowingly false statements in an effort to have the shooting of Laquan McDonald deemed justified.
Arguments in the police board case concluded in April. A decision as to any possible punishment against the four will be announced at the police board’s monthly meeting at police headquarters in Bronzeville Thursday night.
None of the four were charged criminally, though their police powers were stripped and they were assigned to desk duty as the police board case proceeded.
Meanwhile, the Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter is planning a protest outside CPD headquarters just before the start of the 7:30 p.m. meeting. According to a statement from the group, the protest will take aim at the ruling by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability that declared the fatal November 2016 shooting of Joshua Beal to be justified. Beal was killed by two off-duty Chicago police officers in Mount Greenwood.
BLM will also call for the firing of Robert Rialmo, the officer who fatally shot Bettie Jones and Quintonio LeGrier in December 2015. Rialmo’s case is currently pending before the board and a decision as to his future with the CPD will be announced in a few months.
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