Chicago police Superintendent David Brown has moved to fire four officers for their roles in an incident where one of the cops is accused of choking a man in a squad car when he was being arrested.

       That officer, Louis Garcia, was charged criminally in January with official misconduct in connection with the encounter. But last month, Brown moved to fire him, a fellow patrolman, and two police supervisors for their actions related to the May 31, 2019, incident.

       The four officers’ cases now go to the Chicago Police Board, which will decide whether the cops should be fired. An evidentiary hearing — a quasi-trial of sorts — against the four will happen in the next several months.

       Garcia, an 18-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, was accused of breaking several department rules including violating a law or ordinance, bringing discredit to CPD, using excessive force and failing to report it.

       Garcia and another officer were on patrol on Commercial Avenue in the South Chicago community when they encountered someone in the middle of traffic, officials said.

       Cook County prosecutors have said Garcia and his partner saw a 42-year-old man standing in the middle of the street, blocking cars and making obscene gestures. Garcia stopped his police SUV and approached the man before the two got into an argument.

       Garcia handcuffed the man and placed him in the back seat. As the man was being put into the police SUV, he hurled a racial slur at Garcia, prosecutors said.

       Garcia responded: “Who the f--- are you talking to? I’m a what lover? I’m a what lover?” and placed his hands “on or at” the man’s neck “constricting his airflow” as the man was lying on his back across the rear seats, prosecutors said.

       The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which also investigated the case, said in a statement the officer was choking the man who, prosecutors said, “struggled to breathe” for more than 10 seconds as Garcia “hovered over him.” Garcia’s partner came into the back seat and got Garcia’s hands off the man’s neck and maneuvered him to a seated position so they could drive to the district police station, according to prosecutors.

       As they were driving, the man leaned forward between the two officers in the front seat and tried to bite Garcia, prosecutors said. In response, they said, Garcia hit the man in the face with his elbow, giving the man a cut lip.

       According to the disciplinary charges filed by Brown and the city’s Law Department last month, Garcia was accused, among other things, of using excessive and unnecessary force on the 42-year-old by choking him and hitting him; using profanity on him; failing to record the entire incident on his body camera and failing to document the encounter in police reports.

       Some of the accusations outlined in the disciplinary charges against the second patrolman, Manuel Giron, include searching the 42-year-old man without justification, failing to record the entire incident on his body camera and failing to report Garcia for using excessive and unnecessary force.

       Sgt. Kevin Rake and Lt. Charles Daly are both accused of failing to report that Garcia used excessive force and failing to adequately review “and/or failed to resolve” Garcia’s incomplete tactical response report — a form that Chicago police officers are required to fill out whenever force is used either by a cop or someone in their custody.

       The 42-year-old man never filed a civilian excessive-force complaint, but COPA was notified of the encounter by the Police Department’s force review unit in August 2019. Garcia was then taken off the street and relieved of his police powers, COPA said, and the agency referred the case to the state’s attorney’s office for a review.

       Lawyers for Garcia and Rake could not be reached for comment on Thursday. But shortly after Garcia’s arrest in January, his lawyer, James McKay, blasted the decision by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office to bring criminal charges, noting the 42-year-old pleaded guilty to resisting arrest in the case a little more than a week after the incident.

       “This is an irresponsible decision by the elected official,” McKay said of Foxx in January. “This charging encourages criminals to fight with the police.”

       “This guy is violently fighting with Officer Garcia,” McKay also said. “Why are we criminalizing lawful police arrests?”

       Also Thursday, Giron’s lawyer, Tim Grace, wouldn’t go into specifics about the allegations against his client but said, “we’re looking forward to a police board trial, getting a fair hearing.”

       Meanwhile, Daly’s lawyer, Thomas Needham, said his client is a decorated Chicago cop with numerous police department awards, including the Carter H. Harrison award, one of the two highest honors given to the city’s first responders. Daly received the award in 2009 after, according to city officials, he fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at his partner on the West Side the year before.

       Without specifically discussing the allegations against Daly, Needham blasted Brown’s push to fire him, calling the move “illogical and baseless.” Needham said the “second-guessing” of Daly’s actions by top CPD brass is one reason “the department is so thoroughly broken right now.”

       “Lt. Daly made a decision in the middle of the night based on the facts he had available to him at the time,” Needham said in a statement. “People sitting in the comfort of an office at CPD headquarters disagreed with his decision and overruled Daly.

       “They have a right to do that obviously,” Needham continued. “The superintendent then took this disagreement and somehow twisted it into a violation of the department’s rules. If the superintendent were making a conscious effort to destroy the morale on the Chicago Police Department, he could not be doing a better job.”

       jgorner@chicagotribune.com

       Judge rules Kim Foxx can’t be called to testify in the Jussie Smollett trial

       35m

       Superintendent Brown seeks 4 Chicago police officers’ firing over alleged choking incident

       48m

       Coronavirus Illinois governor mandates COVID vaccines for teachers, college students, health care workers, and imposes indoor mask mandate for all

       1h

       Nation & World 12 US troops and at least 60 Afghans killed in Kabul airport attack, officials say

       25m

       Business Kraft Heinz’s move to a hybrid work model means big changes to its Chicago headquarters. Here’s what the new office will look like.

       5:00 AM