A group of labor and church leaders, as well as three Chicago aldermen, offered a stinging rebuke Monday of John Catanzara, saying he should no longer lead Chicago’s largest police
A coalition of politicians, labor leaders, and clergy are calling on Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 President John Catanzara to either resign or lose his job in the wake of comments he made about last week’s incursion at the U.S. Capitol Building.
Heather Cherone | January 11, 2021 10:49 am
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 President John Catanzara appears on “Chicago Tonight” via Zoom on Thursday, May 14, 2020. (WTTW News)
A supermajority of aldermen called on the head of the union representing Chicago’s rank-and-file police officers to resign after praising the rioters who stormed and invaded the U.S. Capitol building last week.
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John Catanzara, head of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 and an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, told WBEZ he understood the frustration that led to the riot Wednesday, which left five dead including one Capitol police officer.
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Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 9 President Keith Ferrell says the union is still gathering information about the case, in which former officer Adam Coy shot and killed Andre Hill, who was unarmed, standing in the garage of a friend. Ferrell says it s not unheard of for the union to not contest an officer s termination, but that it is still investigating future action.
He says the union is moving ahead with a grievance against the city for violations of the police contract. In one instance, Police Chief Thomas Quinlan recommended Coy bge fired, without first meeting with the officer. There are procedures in place in that contract to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, given an opportunity to speak.. and we don t feel they were followed.
Mr Elliott, then 18 years old, was arrested in June 2017 on gun- and drug-possession charges stemming after threatening a neighbor with a firearm. The District Attorney’s office granted him a plea bargain arrangement on January 24, 2018, and he was sentenced to 9 to 23 months in jail, followed by three years’ probation. However, he was paroled earlier than that, after seven months in jail.
Mr Elliot soon violated parole by failing drug tests and failing to mate his meetings with his parole officer.
Mr Elliott was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine on January 29, 2019. This was another parole violation, but Mr Krasner’s office did not attempt to have Mr Elliot returned to jail to finish his sentence, nor make any attempts to get serious bail on the new charges;he was released on his own recognizance.