By Lisa Donovan
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — Two Chicago Police officers are suing Supt. Jody Weis, alleging the city’s top cop defamed them when he stripped them of their badges after a high-profile internal investigation was launched into a group of officers who allegedly beat a handcuffed suspect.
A global-positioning device in the officers’ squad car showed the Gresham District Tactical officers, Lynn Meuris and Jason Vanna, weren’t present during the alleged Oct. 11 beating, and they were returned to street duty.
But the two are suing Weis, alleging the damage was done before they got their badges back last week. That includes Oct. 15 when they were taken to police headquarters and “escorted past a group of reporters and news cameras to the Internal Affairs Division where they were officially stripped of their police powers.”
Then, the officers contend, Weis made a series of defamatory comments during an impromptu Oct. 18 news conference. At one point, Weis reportedly said: “To keep them on the streets would put them at risk and put the department at risk.”
The officers’ attorney, Daniel Q. Herbert, acknowledged his clients were never publicly identified by Weis -- or in any news report.
“Statements were made about these individuals, they were published, and my clients suffered damages as a result,” Herbert said.
He said that Weis’ comments to the media, including identifying which precinct the officers worked out of, were enough for the tight-knit police community -- and even the public -- to identify them.
Herbert also believes an in-house memo may have circulated naming officers stripped of police powers.
In addition to at least $50,000 in damages, Herbert said his clients would like to hear “I’m sorry” from Weis.
A Weis spokesman did not immediately comment.
The partners were among six officers and a sergeant stripped of their police powers after the sergeant allegedly struck a suspect earlier this month near 79th and Vincennes.
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