Cook County Commissioner Luis Arroyo Jr. now says he didn’t ask to dismiss a pal’s parking ticket when he received concerned in a scenario documented in a Cook County Inspector General report.
The “accusation” that he did, which was leveled in opposition to him within the report launched final week by Inspector General Patrick Blanchard, now makes Arroyo and different commissioners involved about Blanchard’s “fitness for this position,” Arroyo mentioned in an announcement launched Monday.
“I requested that the situation surrounding the issuing of the parking ticket be investigated because I believe this ticket was issued as a result of racial bias and discrimination,” Arroyo mentioned.
Blanchard mentioned he had no touch upon the assertion.
On Friday, Arroyo instructed the Chicago Sun-Times getting 36th Ward Supt. Luis Pena’s ticket tossed out wasn’t simply to guard his buddy, however all Latinos. He famous the ticket was issued simply months after a person yelled at a lady for sporting a shirt bearing the Puerto Rican flag whereas a Cook County Forest Preserve police officer seemed on.
“I wanted to make sure our Latino community was not being attacked in the Forest Preserves by members of law enforcement,” Arroyo mentioned Friday. “I was one of two Latinos on the board at that time and at this time. I wanted to make sure we’re being treated fairly and make sure we’re being treated fairly by our officers.”
He doubled down on that rationalization Monday, stating the division was nonetheless below scrutiny for that incident and “this particular ticket was issued by a white officer and a Latino trainee to a Latino person without any reasonable justification.”
“This member of the Latino community had pulled into an empty parking lot, parked at the closest parking space to his lawfully registered event and was unloading his car prior to any park patrons arriving,” in keeping with Arroyo’s assertion. “The parking lot was empty, he was actively unloading his car and there was no one in the park when he was targeted for a ticket.”
According to Blanchard’s report, which was launched final week, Arroyo stepped in after Pena was ticketed, which carries a $250 effective. Arroyo contacted a “high-ranking [Forest Preserve Police] official” about voiding the quotation, in keeping with the report. Because the officer “displayed a poor attitude,” Arroyo requested for the cop to be despatched to his workplace for questioning, the report says.
When questioned by Blanchard about intervening, Arroyo claimed to wish to “address problems between minority and law enforcement communities” and to go over the process for difficult the ticket. That rationalization, about difficult the ticket, “strained credulity,” in keeping with the inspector normal.
Arroyo additionally acknowledged not one of the “historical problems” of community-police relations was at play, and the ticket-challenging process was listed on the ticket, in keeping with the report.
Asked about Blanchard’s abstract of their interview on Friday, Arroyo mentioned, “That’s how Blanchard phrased it. He’s doing ‘a fine job. It is what it is.’”
Now, Arroyo says the officers didn’t care to listen to Pena’s rationalization in regards to the scenario and Blanchard didn’t care to listen to about his.
“Unlike Inspector General Blanchard not allowing me to provide context to his accusation, I wanted to hear the officers’ side of the story before making up my mind about the incident,” Arroyo mentioned in his assertion.
“In fact, Inspector General Blanchard made up his mind about this issue without trying to contact the park’s witnesses or the person who received the ticket. He never actually conducted an investigation but instead leveled accusations that make me, and other commissioners, concerned about his fitness for this position.”
Forest Preserve Police Chief Kelvin Pope stepped down final week within the wake of Blanchard’s report after he “intervened in the matter,” in keeping with an announcement from Forest Preserves…