CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer has been given court docket supervision and ordered to carry out neighborhood service for an off-duty incident wherein he allegedly drove recklessly and evaded on-duty cops who tried to drag him over. Physique digital camera footage of the identical officer’s conduct throughout a earlier visitors cease went viral in 2021.
Jonathan Mehrhoff, who joined the drive in June 2018, continues to work as a $108,012-per-year officer within the Austin (fifteenth) District, a police spokesperson stated Wednesday.
On the night of November 27, 2022, a Harrison (eleventh) District tactical unit tried to drag Mehrhoff over after seeing his Acura MDX run two crimson lights within the 400 and 500 blocks of South Kostner, a CPD arrest report stated. However the Acura “accelerated in pace and disregarded [the officers’] try to cease the car,” the report continued.
Mehrhoff, 34, headed onto the inbound Eisenhower Expressway, drove on the shoulder, then “got here to an abrupt cease inflicting [the officers] to make an evasive maneuvers [sic] to keep away from crashing into the Acura MDX,” stated the report said.
The cops obtained out of their unmarked automobile to strategy the Acura, nevertheless it sped off, solely to “abruptly cease in the midst of visitors” close to Independence Boulevard, “inflicting [the officers] to evasively maneuver out of the best way to keep away from a crash,” the report stated.
Officers walked as much as the automobile, and Mehrhoff “turned very irate by yelling at [the officers] and refused a number of verbal instructions. Driver admitted to disregarding cease mild [sic] and associated he didn’t cease as a result of we had been ‘tweaking,’” the officers reported.
Based on their report, Mehrhoff “refused a number of instructions” to get out of the automobile, and the officers recovered a loaded handgun from the motive force’s door. He “continued to speak over [the officers] being belligerent and disregarding [the officers’] clarification of the visitors cease,” the report stated.
At that time, Mehrhoff recognized himself as an off-duty Chicago police officer, and the cops known as in a supervisor. Based on the report, the supervisor let Mehrhoff drive the Acura to the Harrison District station. There, he met with “supervisors,” and was subsequently arrested. Arresting officers impounded the Acura and seized Mehrhoff’s off-duty weapon.
In July 2021, CPD physique digital camera footage confirmed a driver, recognized as Mehrhoff, berating cops and claiming to be an off-duty officer throughout a visitors cease.
“I’m a PO identical to you all,” he started. And it went downhill from there.
“You all are tweakin’, bro!” he advised the officers at one level.
“Shut the hell up, man! F*cking whiny, bro! Get the f*ck out of right here,” he continued within the low-quality video, which went viral. Watch (obscene language):
On Monday, Mehrhoff pleaded responsible to misdemeanor reckless driving and misdemeanor fleeing or eluding an officer, in accordance with court docket information. Choose Edward Underhill sentenced him to 12 months of supervision on each counts plus 100 hours of neighborhood service. Underhill levied $439 in court docket charges, too.
The case marks a uncommon victory for the Prepare dinner County State’s Legal professional’s Workplace, which has hardly ever gained circumstances it pursued in opposition to Chicago cops. Some accused officers have even filed wrongful prosecution lawsuits in opposition to the workplace.
Retired Illinois Appellate Courtroom Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke changed twice-elected Kim Foxx because the county’s prime prosecutor in December. Lower than three weeks after she took workplace, O’Neill Burke’s crew dropped felony prices that Foxx’s workers filed in opposition to an Oak Garden police officer seen in a viral video punching an armed 17-year-old boy within the head throughout an arrest in July 2022.
Among the many losses racked up throughout Foxx’s tenure:
In November, a Chicago cop accused of improperly seizing and inventorying firearms whereas on patrol was discovered not responsible of all prices.
In a very high-profile and racially charged case, Foxx’s workplace charged CPD Officer Bruce Dyker in June 2022 with aggravated battery and official misconduct after viral movies confirmed him scuffling with a Black girl who was strolling her canine after hours at North Avenue Seashore. The state’s lawyer’s workplace dropped the complete case a yr later.
In one other incident caught on video, Sgt. Christopher Liakopoulos and Officer Ruben Reynoso had been charged with capturing an unarmed man in Pilsen in 2022. Choose Lawrence Flood acquitted each males in September.
CPD Lt. Wilfredo Roman was discovered not responsible of shoving a flashlight between a young person’s buttocks whereas arresting the boy, who was suspected of carjacking.
Sgt. Michael Vitellaro gained widespread consideration after a video captured him pinning a teenage boy to the bottom, mistakenly believing the teenager had stolen his son’s bike. The boy was not concerned, and prosecutors charged Vitellaro with battery and official misconduct. Choose Paul Pavlus acquitted Vitellaro in a bench trial, saying he didn’t imagine the boy and his buddies supplied credible testimony.
Prosecutors charged officer Christopher Hillas with official misconduct and aggravated battery in 2022, saying he punched a handcuffed man within the groin. The scenario, in accordance with Hillas’ lawyer, was a misunderstanding that resulted from the lads bumping heads. An embarrassed state’s lawyer’s workplace needed to drop the case inside weeks after a grand jury refused to indict Hillas.
Melvina Bogard, charged with capturing an unarmed man as he fled from a bodily altercation along with her accomplice on the Grand Pink Line platform, was discovered not responsible.
Angel Escobedo, a CPD officer accused of threatening two off-duty officers with a gun throughout an early-morning altercation in Roscoe Village in 2021, was discovered not responsible in a bench trial by Choose Donald Panarese.
Final yr, a former Chicago cop was discovered not responsible of killing his girlfriend whereas he was on the drive in 2021.
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