Judge upholds firing of officer dismissed in the wake of Laquan McDonald case

Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO – A Cook County judge on Thursday upheld the firing of a Chicago police officer for his role in the alleged cover-up of police actions in the Laquan McDonald killing.

Judge Sophia Hall ruled the Chicago Police Board made a sound decision in dismissing Officer Ricardo Viramontes last year for several Chicago Police Department rule violations, including making false statements, bringing discredit to the department and failing to promote its goals.

A written decision from Hall was not immediately made public on Thursday. But Viramontes’ lawyer, Tom Needham, said his client was disappointed in Hall’s ruling, “hoping he would get a chance to get back the job that he loved.” Viramontes, who was a Chicago cop for 14 years, now has the option of taking up Hall’s decision with the state appellate court.

Viramontes was the third Chicago police officer whose firing was upheld by the Cook County Circuit Court in connection with the McDonald shooting. Sgt. Stephen Franko and Officer Daphne Sebastian had their police board firings affirmed by separate judges last month. A fourth officer, Janet Mondragon, is awaiting a judge’s decision in an appeal to her dismissal by the board.

The four lost their jobs over statements they made to an investigator, or approved in police reports, that did not line up with video footage of the 17-year-old McDonald’s slaying. They each petitioned to have their firings reviewed by the circuit court, a common course of action for any Chicago officer fired by the Police Board.

After Thursday’s ruling, Needham lamented how higher-ranking officers who initially faced firing in the case, including two members of the department’s command staff, were allowed to retire while Viramontes and the three other officers got the worst punishment.

“One of the things that’s disheartening about this case is that the sanctions that were imposed on all the officers involved in this, it seems like higher you were in rank the less likely it was that you’d suffer some severe sanctions,” Needham said. “The people who paid with their careers were the lowest ranking people. Something about that just seems unfair.”

The allegations against Viramontes were based on statements he made to David March, the lead detective on the scene of the Oct. 20, 2014, shooting, and during his disciplinary hearing before the board in April 2019. As documented in March’s reports, Viramontes told him that McDonald turned toward Officers Jason Van Dyke and Joseph Walsh before Van Dyke shot and killed the 17-year-old.

Viramontes also told March that McDonald tried to get up with a knife in his hand after being shot. But the Police Board said squad car video that captured the shooting did not show that, and in its 55-page decision found that Viramontes was not telling the truth about what he saw.

But in a memorandum filed in court earlier this year Needham urged Hall to pay close attention to a slow-motion version of the footage played during the April hearing. Needham in the paperwork argued the footage supports his client’s story.

Among other things, Needham also said in the filing there was no evidence Viramontes “intentionally lied” to March. The officer’s interaction with the detective was short and should not have been considered a formal interview, Needham argued.

“Any conflict between what was said in that brief conversation and how the incident appeared on video can certainly be a simple mistake rather than an intentional lie,” Needham said in the filing. “For example, Viramontes explained at the hearing that he originally thought that he had been outside of his squad car when the shooting began but ‘(a)fter viewing all the videos’ he realized he was mistaken and the shooting actually began ‘simultaneously as my doors were being opened.’ ”

Needham wrote that Viramontes should not be held accountable for the way March wrote his reports. Needham also noted that March was never called by the city to testify before the board to explain his side of things. “In essence, the Board was saying that Viramontes was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t,” Needham wrote in his memorandum.

Needham in his filing also slammed the board for using language in its written findings that he argued was purely speculative. The lawyer pointed to the board’s statements that Viramontes was trying to justify the 16 times Van Dyke shot McDonald.

“There was no evidence that Viramontes had any relationship whatsoever with Van Dyke or any motive to deliberately lie to March about what he saw,” Needham wrote. “Nothing about his personal or professional background would lead one to believe that he is not a truthful person.”

Van Dyke was the first Chicago cop in half a century to be convicted of an on-duty murder in October 2018. But a judge cleared Walsh, who was Van Dyke’s partner, March and Officer Thomas Gaffney of criminal conspiracy charges related to the shooting in a controversial ruling a few months later.

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