As the city lays Chicago police officer John Bartholomew to rest on Friday, major questions remain about the chain of events that led to his fatal shooting last month.
The big picture: Bartholomew’s killing is raising questions about hospital screening policies, Chicago police search protocols, judges’ pretrial release decisions and authorities’ handling of warrant responses.
The latest: The case is sparking criticism from local officials at many levels:
- Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke declared the county’s electronic monitoring system “broken,”
- Gov JB Pritzker is pointing the finger at Judge John F. Lyke, who placed the shooting suspect on electronic monitoring.
- Ald. Silvana Tabares is calling for hearings on the issues surrounding it.
Catch up quick: On April 25, Bartholomew and his partner brought robbery suspect Alphanso Talley into Albany Park’s Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital after he told them he had ingested dangerous amounts of drugs, according to police reports.
- Hospital officials say they screened Talley for weapons using a wand. But prosecutors say he somehow smuggled in a gun that was used to kill Bartholomew and critically wound his partner.
Context: At the time of his arrest, Talley had been released from jail and placed on electronic monitoring (EM) following a carjacking charge.
- Lyke made the decision in December when, according to court transcripts obtained by WGN, he said Talley appeared to be on “the path to making better decisions.”
- At least one warrant had been issued for his arrest on March 11 after he failed to appear in court and disabled his monitoring device, according to law enforcement records.
- A month later, he remained at large.
While CPD Internal Affairs continues to investigate the circumstances around Talley’s gun possession, Tabares, whose husband is a CPD officer, is demanding hearings on protocols around electronic monitoring and the warrant system…