CHICAGO — It's no secret that the public is often the last to know when police officers behave badly, due to the convoluted way misconduct allegations get investigated.
The latest example is the case of police officer Ediberto Diaz, accused of shooting up a purple Chrysler PT Cruiser.
I stumbled upon Diaz’s run-in with suburban police while fact-checking Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s campaign commercial claim that she has prosecuted 96 police officers.
If not for that, we still might not know about the night in April when Diaz allegedly confessed to firing shots into the PT Cruiser in Melrose Park.
Alvarez’s campaign sent me a list of city and suburban police officers her office has prosecuted, including names we’ve all heard before, including Jason Van Dyke, who faces first-degree murder charges for shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times, and Dante Servin and Glenn Evans, who each were found not guilty in court.
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It didn’t take long to figure out the felony reckless discharge of a weapon charge and endangerment against Diaz — a felony with a sentence range of probation to three years in prison — had flown under the radar while the three-year veteran continues to collect a $69,684-a-year city paycheck.
There’s no evidence of Diaz’s initial bond hearing at the Cook County courthouse in Maywood making headlines last year.
And we didn’t hear a peep about the charges from the Chicago Police Department or the Independent Police Review Authority — the agency charged with probing police-involved shootings — thanks to rules etched in the Fraternal Order of Police union contract that forbid the release of an officer’s identity and details of misconduct allegations during the notoriously slow investigative process.
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But a Melrose Park police report obtained through the Freedom Information Act and some helpful law enforcement sources shed light on details the city is contractually forbidden from sharing with taxpayers who are still footing the bill for Diaz’s paycheck.
Around 11 p.m. on April 17, 2015, two Melrose Park officers standing at 24th and Thomas streets heard gunshots “at close range.”
The officers spotted a man later identified as Diaz in the alley in the 1200 block of North 23rd Avenue as he entered a red pickup truck. They stopped Diaz after he started to drive away, police said.
“The driver smelled of a strong odor of alcoholic beverage. The driver’s speech was slurred. I asked the driver … ‘Did you fired off [sic] a gun?’ Ediberto Diaz said, ‘Yes!’ I placed him in handcuffs,” according to the police report.
When the Melrose Park officer asked, “Where is the gun?” Diaz replied, “I am a police officer … I am a Chicago police officer,” according to the police report.
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The officer asked again. Diaz said, “The gun is in the garage,” according to the report. A source identified the exact address of the garage, which is in the 1200 block of North 23rd Avenue in Melrose Park.*
Police found a Springfield Arms 9 mm pistol on the front seat of a black Buick parked in the garage.
Officers also found shell casings near a purple Chrysler PT Cruiser pocked with bullet holes that was parked “one foot from the garage door,” police said.
The owner of the car refused to press charges for criminal damage to property. A tenant who heard the gunshots from inside the house told officers “there were no issues between the landlord and himself,” according to the report.
A Melrose Park lieutenant notified Chicago Police of Diaz’s arrest. An internal affairs sergeant and Chicago’s deputy chief of street operations then drove out to Melrose Park, according to the report.
Two days later on April 19, the State’s Attorney’s Office charged Diaz with a felony.
At his bond hearing, prosecutors argued Diaz should not be allowed to possess any firearms as a condition of his bail. Diaz’s attorney argued that requirement would impact Diaz’s ability to work, according to a source familiar with the case.
The judge agreed with Diaz, who was released on $5,000 bail, according to court records.
Attorney William Fahy, listed as Diaz's lawyer on court records, did not return calls seeking comment on Wednesday.
An IPRA spokesman declined to release details about the “pending” misconduct investigation.
After his arrest, Diaz immediately was stripped of his police powers, pending the outcome of his criminal case and an internal affairs investigation, Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
Since then, Diaz has been assigned to desk duty, answering phones and filing police reports. He is required to come to work and gets paid a full salary, Guglielmi said.
Diaz’s next court date is scheduled for March 18 in Room 105 at the Cook County courthouse in Maywood.
The city might be required to keep that kind of information secret until the courts and IPRA make a final ruling, but I think you've got a right to know.
* Chicago requires its police officers to live within city limits. According to public records, Diaz owns the North 23rd Avenue property in suburban Melrose Park and claims it as his “primary personal residence” to qualify for a property tax break. Diaz also owns a home in Chicago that receives the same homeowners property tax exemption, according to public records.
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