A Cook County jury on Tuesday awarded nearly $1 million to a Chicago police detective who alleged he was demoted after pushing back when superiors pressed him to alter reports to cover for a fellow officer who shot an unarmed teenager.
Sgt. Isaac Lambert, who took the stand during the first week of the three-week trial, claimed he was “dumped” from his job as a detective supervisor on the South Side after he filed reports on the case nearly two years after off-duty Sgt. Khalil Muhammad shot and wounded 18-year-old Ricardo Hayes.
Lambert had testified during the first week of the trial that he clashed with fellow officers and his supervisors the night of the shooting, even refusing to send officers to interrogate Hayes after learning that the teen had autism and had been reported missing just hours before the shooting.
Seated in the courtroom across from jurors as Judge Thomas Donnelly read the verdict, Lambert bowed his head and whispered to his lawyers, his smile visible even under his surgical mask.
“To get dragged by the city for these last three years is unbelievable,” Lambert said outside the courtroom, as tears ran down his cheeks. “All for looking out for a kid who couldn’t look out for himself, it’s just unreal.”
Jurors needed only about two and half hours to reach a verdict. The award of $910,000 was less than the $1.2 million to $2.5 million that Lambert’s lawyers had suggested, but well above the $143,000 in compensation city attorneys had called for.
During...
Pulsar Helium (LSE:PLSR) has issued a statement dismissing market rumours after becoming aware that a third-party broker had circulated misleading communications describing a supposed private plac...