Officer John Poulos is the Chicago Police Sgt. who is accused of killing Kujaun Raye, has a long history of various corrective actions in his file, 6 cases which include two cases of false arrest. Yet and still this officer was commended for, “Officer of the Month” in April of 2015. (picture,bottom page)
BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION REVIEW ALSO FOUND:
POULOS WAS CLEARED OF WRONGDOING IN AN INTERNAL POLICE INVESTIGATION – SEPARATE FROM THE IPRA PROBE – LED BY DET. TIMOTHY MCDERMOTT. MCDERMOTT, A WHITE OFFICER, WAS FIRED IN 2014 FOR POSING IN AN OFFENSIVE PHOTO AS A HUNTER WHO CAPTURED A BLACK MAN AS A TROPHY. THE BLACK MAN HAD DEER ANTLERS ON HIS HEAD. (PICTURE BELOW)
Chicago Police Officer John Poulos was off-duty and leaving a Lincoln Park sports bar owned by his family when, on the night of Aug. 31, 2013, he spotted a man apparently trying to break into a building from a second-floor back porch.
Poulos, cutting through an alley on his way home, identified himself as a cop, ordered the suspected burglar, Rickey Rozelle, to come down and called 911, according to police records.
What happened next raises fresh questions about the use of deadly force by Chicago police.
The Poulos told investigators his brother gave him the gun earlier that night for safekeeping. Anthony Guglielmi, a police spokesman, says Poulos’s use of the weapon didn’t violate any law or policy.Police reports say Poulos was “sober” at the time of the shooting.
He had come from Gamekeepers, a sports bar owned located at 345 W Armitage Ave Chicago, Illinois by his family, though told investigators he didn’t drink. (Poulos tested negative for drugs and alcohol).
Poulos continues to face a lawsuit brought by the family of Rickey Rozelle in Cook County Circuit Court over the fatal shooting of the 28-year-old man in 2013. Poulos was leaving a Lincoln Park sports bar owned by his family when he saw a man apparently trying to break into a building from a second-floor back porch, according to police records. Poulos identified himself as an officer and called 911.
- On the 911 recording, Poulos said, “He is on the ground. He refused to show me his hands,” according a Better Government Association report published in the Chicago Sun-Times this year. Later, Poulos said, “He refused to show me his hands and then he went into his pockets.”
- He fatally Rozelle, a felon with mental challenges, in a gangway in the 1900 block of North Lincoln Avenue, later telling authorities that Rozelle threatened to kill him and “turned toward [him] with a shiny, metallic object in or near his hand,” records show. No gun was found.
Poulos was cleared of wrongdoing in the Rozelle shooting by both the Independent Police Review Authority and an internal investigation by the police department.
- In 2013, Poulos was reprimanded for inattention to duty because his firearm accidentally discharged while he was in a foot pursuit in May 2012 in the South Chicago District, according to the Independent Police Review Authority.
- Since 2007, IPRA has investigated more than 400 shootings by Chicago cops — and found only two officers were in the wrong.
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In 2015 John D. Poulos received an award for employee of the month for April 2015. Also John had been promoted to Sgt and also an instructor in the Education & Training Division teaching L.E.M.A.R.T. (Law Enforcement Medical Aid & Rescue Training) as well worked in the 007th District during his career. The annual salary is $101,442. All this
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s police accountability task force, formed after the release of the McDonald video, had recommended replacing IPRA with a new civilian oversight agency.and whether the government agency that probes shootings by Chicago cops, the Independent Police Review Authority, has acted too quickly to absolve officers in death incidents without adequate investigation.
Freedom First International is looking for any information that would be helpful to push this investigation forward. Anyone with informaton, please contact www.freedomfirstintational.net or email freedomfirstcommo@gmail.com
Gregg L. Greer a Public Speaker, Minister, Social Activist, and the Editor of the One World internet journal. Greer is the Founder of Freedom First International-if you are interested in interviews from his and others of the brightest minds today, you can email him at oneworldtoday@gmail.com His website is www.gregglgreer.com