Police Board Votes To Fire CPD Officer
An off-duty Chicago police officer who fired 16 shots at the wrong car after witnessing a drive-by shooting in 2011 has been fired, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
The Chicago Police Board voted 8-0 to dismiss Officer Francisco Perez during its monthly meeting Thursday, said Lori Lightfoot, the board's president.
The board found, among other things, that Perez "failed to identify the appropriate target prior to discharging his firearm," during the Nov. 5, 2011 incident, Lightfoot said.
Perez was off-duty when he was walking toward his car in the 1100 block of North Ashland near La Pasadita restaurant and witnessed the drive-by. A red car driving south on Ashland fired toward a blue car parked in front of the restaurant. A man standing on the sidewalk was killed by the gunfire and two other people were wounded.
Perez mistakenly shot at the blue car, hitting the driver in the back near the heart, the Independent Police Review Authority determined in July 2015. The disciplinary agency found Perez was inattentive to duty because he allegedly failed to identify the correct target. He had fired 16 times, according to investigators. Back in 2015, It was the first time in IPRA's history that it had recommended a Chicago police officer involved in a shooting be fired.
Anne Kavanagh, a spokeswoman for Perez attorney Dan Herbert, said the lawyer would not be commenting on the board's decision.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
