Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has told Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson to leave his position, effective immediately.
According to NBC News, Johnson was fired this Monday. The termination was unexpected and comes only a few weeks before the Chicago Police Superintendent was set to retire.
“This job has taken its toll — taken a toll on my health, my family, my friends,” Johnson said during his retirement announcement in November. “But my integrity has remained intact.”
But it appears that Mayor Lightfoot doesn’t agree. When announcing his termination, Mayor Lightfoot, who is openly gay, implied that the firing was due to Johnson’s controversial three years in the position. From mishandling police shootings, to his influence on high-profile arrests like that of Jussie Smollett, and being caught sleeping behind the wheel of his car this past October.
“Upon a thorough review of the materials of the Inspector General’s ongoing investigation, it has become clear that Mr. Johnson engaged in a series of ethical lapses that are intolerable for any leader in a position of trust, particularly the head of the Chicago Police Department,” Lightfoot said in a statement.
But even further, Lightfoot states that she caught the Chicago Police Superintendent lying to both her and the public about cases and government matters.
“Mr. Johnson failed the hardworking members of the Chicago Police Department, he intentionally misled the people of Chicago and he intentionally misled me. None of that is acceptable,” said the mayor.
“Eddie Johnson intentionally lied to me several times even when I challenged him about the narrative that he shared with me,” she added. “He maintained that he was telling the truth. I now know definitively that he was not.”
“A lie is a lie,” Lightfoot pressed further. “He told me something that happened that night that turned out to be fundamentally different than what he portrayed to me and what he portrayed to the members of the public.”
That said, Lightfoot would not disclose what specific cases and incidents she was referring to. Instead, she shared that she had grown distrustful of Johnson over the years and finally acted on it after having inspectors investigate him. Though, she shares that the investigator’s report will eventually be made public.
