On Monday, Chicago police Sgt. Isaac Lambert filed a lawsuit against top officials in the detective bureau after they attempted to "cover up" crucial details about a shooting involving an "unarmed teen with disabilities," the Chicago Tribune is reporting.
Lambert was assigned to investigate the shooting between unarmed Ricardo Hayes and off-duty police Sgt. Khalil Muhammad.
Lambert claims that he was let go after he refused to falsify the police report in which his bosses demanded he identify Muhammad as the "victim."
Lambert said he was asked to "mischaracterize" the shooting as "an aggravated assault" against Muhammad by Hayes, even though Hayes was an unarmed teen and did not pose a threat.
"The allegations stem from the early morning shooting of Ricardo 'Ricky' Hayes, then 18, by an off-duty Chicago police officer in August 2017 in the Morgan Park neighborhood. Hayes, said by Lambert’s lawyers to have 'profound intellectual and developmental disabilities,' was reported missing about three hours before the shooting. He was shot and wounded in the arm and chest," a report from The Tribune explained.
"The legal action by Lambert, filed under the Illinois Whistleblower Act, alleged that Muhammad called Hayes over to his personal vehicle after spotting him 'skipping and running' near his residence about 5 a.m. Hayes, who was about 20 feet from the vehicle, took about four steps toward Muhammad’s vehicle when the sergeant opened fire," the report added.
Read the full report here.
