A Chicago police officer who refused to downplay another officer’s shooting of an unarmed teenager has been awarded $910,000 by a jury.

Isaac Lambert argued he was demoted after refusing to bow to pressure from higher-ups in the 2017 shooting of then-18-year-old Ricardo Hayes.

Hayes was shot and wounded by off-duty Officer Khalil Muhammad in August 2017. Video from the scene showed that the unarmed Hayes was walking down a street when Muhammad opened fire on him from his car.

Lambert said that police brass wanted to have Hayes arrested and charged with assault. He refused.

After contentious debate, Lambert finally filed reports on the shooting in 2019. Shortly afterward, he was demoted from detective supervisor.

In response to that treatment, Lambert filed a lawsuit under the Illinois Whistleblower Act. His attorneys sought between $1.2 million and $2.5 million. But Lambert was happy with the result.

“To get dragged by the city for these last three years is unbelievable,” Lambert told the Chicago Sun-Times outside the courtroom after Tuesday’s decision. “All for looking out for a kid who couldn’t look out for himself, it’s just unreal.”

Chicago city attorneys had argued that Lambert was demoted for poor performance, not blowing the whistle. Numerous Chicago police officials testified, but the jury didn’t buy it.

“The higher they went up in rank, the worse liars they became,” one juror told WGN.

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