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In an effort to help a West Morgan Park man have his historic jury award reinstated by an appellate court, two former police superintendents released a statement saying they would have fired the officer accused of shooting his friend.

CHICAGO-In an effort to help a West Morgan Park man have his historic jury award reinstated by an appellate court, two former police superintendents released a statement saying they would have fired the officer accused of shooting his friend long before the incident but the city’s procedures prevented them from removing problematic cops from the force.

Former Chicago Police Department leaders Garry McCarthy and Jody Weis blasted the city for what they said was failing to punish bad officers and instilling a sense of impunity among their ranks. The pair also said the city’s argument that it cannot be held responsible for an officer’s off-duty behavior is both legally and morally untrue.

McCarthy is working as a paid consultant for victim Michael LaPorta’s attorneys as they push an appellate court to restore his $44.7 million award against the department. McCarthy asked his predecessor Weis, who said he has no financial relationship with LaPorta’s team, to join him in signing the letter.

“When called out, (the city) shields itself by characterizing its off-duty officers as monsters out of their control,” the statement says. “Yet, they ignore the reality that they created and unleashed these monsters by stripping the power away from those who have the means to stop them. The City, just like those officers, must be held to task.”

McCarthy was fired in late 2015 as part of then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s damage control efforts following the public release of video showing Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke killing Laquan McDonald.

Weis was superintendent in January 2010, when the city’s independent investigators say Officer Patrick Kelly shot childhood friend LaPorta with his service weapon after a night of heavy drinking. McCarthy was superintendent in July 2013, when Kelly repeatedly shocked a pregnant woman with a Taser. The woman, who lived in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, suffered a miscarriage and later settled a police misconduct lawsuit against the city for $500,000.

Neither McCarthy nor Weis had the power to fire Kelly for those incidents, and the city’s police oversight agencies did not recommend he be terminated at that time. Both men put or kept Kelly on desk duty at some point during their tenure, one of the few options available to them.

Weis told the Tribune on Monday that police chiefs in most major cities are incapable of firing bad officers, leaving them hamstrung to confront systemic misconduct.

“I would go to the Major Cities Chiefs Association conferences and, at every single one, somebody would bring up the frustration of being (unable) to fire problematic officers,” Weis said.

Kelly’s lawyer fired back at the former superintendents, calling their statement “unprecedented” and accusing them of interfering with Kelly’s pending termination case, which went before the Chicago Police Board last month. Attorney Laura Morask, a former Cook County prosecutor, noted that McCarthy signed off on a 60-day suspension for Kelly after the city’s independent review agency cited the officer for failing to secure his gun, off-duty drunkenness and conduct unbecoming an officer the night of the LaPorta shooting.

“I am extremely disappointed that such notable experienced former superintendents would write what essentially amounts to a ‘hit piece’ of unsubstantiated allegations that were not and are not of record in the pending matter before the Police Board,” Morask said. “What disappoints is exacerbated by the fact they must have known this well-publicized matter was tried (by the Police Board) a few weeks ago and their ‘letter’ could be seen as an attempt to get their opinions and unproven claims in front of the trier of fact.”

McCarthy’s newfound involvement comes after a two-judge appellate panel overturned the award in LaPorta’s civil case against the city in late February. LaPorta’s attorneys now are asking the entire appellate court to weigh in on the case.

In keeping with a federal rule that describes such requests as “not favored,” the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rarely grants those petitions.

A 24-page opinion written by Chief Judge Diane Sykes and joined by Judge Michael Kanne held that while LaPorta suffered grievous, life-altering injuries, the “legal theory for holding the city liable is deeply flawed.”

“When Kelly shot LaPorta, he was not acting as a Chicago police officer but as a private citizen,” the opinion stated.

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McCarthy and Weis argue that it’s impossible to separate a cop’s on-duty and off-duty behavior. As long as the courts refuse to hold the city accountable, officials will continue to look the other way and true police reform will never occur, the former superintendents wrote.

“Without accountability on those with the authority, there is no incentive for change,” they wrote. “Waves of officers like Kelly will continue to act with impunity, public confidence in the police will continue to erode, and all of us in the community will continue to suffer in the wake.”

In his consultant role, McCarthy helped coordinate an amicus brief — a legal document voicing support for LaPorta — from three former law enforcement executives. But Sykes, who reportedly was on then-President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court shortlist, rejected it, as well as a joint brief from the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Women’s All Point Bulletin.

The denial, McCarthy said, led to his decision to speak out.

The domestic violence organizations had argued Sykes’ ruling will give cities an excuse to ignore officers who engage in violent behavior when not in uniform. City attorneys did not oppose the briefs’ submission, court records show.

“The outcome of this case implicates whether and to what extent municipalities are liable for policies and practices that cause off-duty officer violence, including officer-involved domestic violence,” the domestic violence groups wrote in urging Sykes to allow their voices to be shared with the entire court. “As the brief points out, a consequence of the panel decision will be to immunize police departments for policies and practices that enable and promote off-duty domestic violence.”

LaPorta’s attorneys wanted the supportive briefs to be allowed as they ask for the entire appellate panel to review the decision that tossed out the lawsuit verdict. In that request, LaPorta’s attorneys argue that Sykes’ decision overturned previous precedent and needs to be considered by all the judges.

“It would have been optimal if both amici had been accepted, so that the 7th Circuit could understand the breadth of the issue that they are facing,” LaPorta’s attorney Tony Romanucci said. Wireless mouse for mac gaming. “I trust, with or without the amici briefs, the 7th Circuit will be fair and just when it considers the issues that are before it.”

A spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department could not be reached for comment.

A 2017 Tribune investigation found Kelly has been declared mentally unfit for duty twice during his turbulent career, arrested two times, received about 20 misconduct complaints and was accused of beating a girlfriend. He received a 60-day suspension for off-duty drunkenness, failing to secure his gun and conduct unbecoming an officer the night LaPorta was shot.

The city — which has paid attorneys millions of dollars over the past decade to argue LaPorta shot himself near the back of his head with Kelly’s gun — now says Kelly pulled the trigger and is trying to fire him. The Chicago Police Board is weighing its decision.

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“If given the opportunity and the authority, we’d have terminated Kelly long before shooting LaPorta,” wrote McCarthy and Weis, the former superintendents. “Instead, the City’s investigative agency .. overturned a disciplinary recommendation after Kelly beat his girlfriend with a box fan in 2005 and never once disciplined him prior to the shooting. Now, 11 years after shooting LaPorta … the process of merely disciplining an abusive officer has become a decadelong, bureaucratic nightmare.”

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In 2017, a federal jury awarded LaPorta $44.7 million — the largest award for a police misconduct case in Illinois history — after determining that the department failed to discipline or identify Kelly as a problem before he shot his friend. LaPorta survived a bullet that splintered and ricocheted around his brain, though he can no longer walk and requires round-the-clock care.

Kelly denies the allegations, including that he was drunk that night. He repeatedly has testified he only drank four light beers over several hours. The Illinois State Police determined that he was two to three times the legal limit when the shot was fired.

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