Hundreds gather on September 24, 2020 in front of the Chicago Police Department and across the city to protest that no Kentucky police officer will face charges in Breonna Taylor’s death
Hundreds gather on September 24, 2020 in front of the Chicago Police Department and across the city to protest that no Kentucky police officer would face charges in Breonna Taylor’s death. Manuel Martinez / WBEZ Chicago
Hundreds gather on September 24, 2020 in front of the Chicago Police Department and across the city to protest that no Kentucky police officer will face charges in Breonna Taylor’s death
Hundreds gather on September 24, 2020 in front of the Chicago Police Department and across the city to protest that no Kentucky police officer would face charges in Breonna Taylor’s death. Manuel Martinez / WBEZ Chicago

After deliberating for two and a half hours, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Chicago police sergeant Isaac Lambert in his lawsuit alleging retaliation for refusing to change a police report about another sergeant’s 2017 shooting of an unarmed teenager with autism. The jury awarded Lambert $910,000 in damages.

Hundreds gather on September 24, 2020 in front of the Chicago Police Department and across the city to protest that no Kentucky police officer will face charges in Breonna Taylor’s death
Hundreds gather on September 24, 2020 in front of the Chicago Police Department and across the city to protest that no Kentucky police officer would face charges in Breonna Taylor’s death. Manuel Martinez / WBEZ Chicago
Hundreds gather on September 24, 2020 in front of the Chicago Police Department and across the city to protest that no Kentucky police officer will face charges in Breonna Taylor’s death
Hundreds gather on September 24, 2020 in front of the Chicago Police Department and across the city to protest that no Kentucky police officer would face charges in Breonna Taylor’s death. Manuel Martinez / WBEZ Chicago

After deliberating for two and a half hours, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Chicago police sergeant Isaac Lambert in his lawsuit alleging retaliation for refusing to change a police report about another sergeant’s 2017 shooting of an unarmed teenager with autism. The jury awarded Lambert $910,000 in damages.

Mary Dixon: A Cook County jury has sided with a Chicago police sergeant who says CPD retaliated against him for standing up to a code of silence. This judgment stems from a different sergeant shooting of an unarmed teenager with autism. Sergeant Isaac Lambert refused to report that sergeant as the incident's victim. As a result, he says he was transferred from the detective division back to patrol. Yesterday, a Cook County jury awarded Lambert $910 thousand in damages. WBEZ's Chip Mitchell joins me now with more on this story. Good morning Chip.

Chip Mitchel: Morning Mary.

Mary Dixon: That trial ended yesterday. What did his attorneys prove to the jury?

Chip Mitchel: Well Sergeant Lambert testified, he arrived on the scene and noticed that Sergeant Mohammed had not articulated a lawful reason for using deadly force, like fearing for his life. Lambert says Hayes, the teen with gunshot wounds, he was brought to the station in his hospital gown for interrogation as if he were a criminal. And Lambert said he had to intervene to get Hayes released without charges. And as this police investigation played out Mary, there was evidence that Lambert's bosses wanted him to report that Sergeant Mohammed was the incidents victim and that Hayes, this unarmed teen, was the offender and that he had committed aggravated assault. But Lambert did not go along with that story. And just five days after he filed a big report on the shooting, he was transferred from the detective division to a patrol job, and Mary that was a big step back in his career.

Mary Dixon: And how did the city's attorneys explain what happened from their point of view?

Chip Mitchel: Well they presented testimony that bosses were not pressuring Sergeant Lambert to cover up the truth. Just trying to reach consensus about what happened. And Melissa Staples, she was chief of detectives right near the top of CPD s chain of command. She testified that Lambert was transferred not as retaliation, but because he had bungled the investigation. She said Lambert should not have assigned a rookie detective to a shooting by a cop and that he turned in reports about the case late.

Mary Dixon: The jury deliberated yesterday for less than three hours before coming out with this nearly million dollar award for Sergeant Lambert. What seemed to be their thinking?

Chip Mitchel: Well, one juror agreed to talk on the way out. He said it seemed like many of the police officers testifying for the defense, especially the ones higher up in the chain of command, he said they seemed to be lying. Now, Sergeant Lambert, he said he hoped the verdict would send a message to CPD brass.

Isaac Lambert: I hope the upper ranks learn that our job is to be fair, objective, impartial and to follow the law. Not to do something to give cover for the city or another officer that did something wrong.

Chip Mitchel: Now, lawyers for the city, Mary. They declined to comment about this verdict and award.

Mary Dixon: How does this award compare with other police whistleblower judgments against the city of Chicago?

Chip Mitchel: Well $910 thousand is about half of what Lambert's attorneys asked for and it's less than what Juries have decided in some other recent cases. Just this past July, former detective Beth Svec was awarded $4.3 million. She had claimed she was transferred to the midnight shift of a very high crime district because she brought evidence contradicting what two officers had reported about a gun possession arrest.

Mary Dixon: That's WBEZ Criminal Justice Reporter, Chip Mitchell. Thanks Chip.

Chip Mitchel: My pleasure Mary.


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