Daley: Cops responsible for torture

July 22, 2006

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Mayor Daley said Friday he's willing to accept his share of responsibility and "apologize to anyone" for the torture of suspects by former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge, but the ultimate responsibility rests with the Chicago Police Department.

Two days after a special prosecutor's report made then-Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek the primary fall guy for Burge's pattern of abuse, Daley pointed the finger of blame in the same direction.

"It's up to the Chicago Police Department. The responsibility lies within them. Police departments have responsibility in professional standards. That's one thing we know. Any type of misconduct, abuse, anything whatsoever," Daley said.

"He's [Brzeczek is] trying to say that he had no responsibility as a police chief. No other police chief had any responsibility whatsoever. That's erroneous."

The mayor recalled getting a letter from Brzeczek that "suggested but did not charge abuse" in the case of accused cop killer Andrew Wilson. At the time, Daley was state's attorney.

In the letter, Brzeczek passed along explosive information he had received from Dr. John Raba, medical director of Cermak (jail) Health Services.

Raba had examined Wilson and found multiple bruises, swelling and abrasions on his face and head. A battered right eye, and linear blisters on his thigh, cheek and chest "consistent with radiator burns." Raba also reported Wilson's claim that electric shock had been administered to his gums, lips and genitals.

"There must [be] a thorough investigation of this alleged brutality," Raba wrote.

'It should never have happened'

Brzeczek tossed the political hot potato to Daley, who referred it to his Special Prosecutions Unit for further investigation. Nothing ever came of the investigation.

"They did follow up. They did interview people. They did talk to people. [But] you need cooperating people," Daley said.

It wasn't until the early 1990s, when the Police Board finally got around to firing Burge, that -- as Daley put it -- the "extent and pattern" of abuse became fully known.

"A lot of facts are coming out now. This is 20 years later -- or more. A lot of facts are coming out completely different from then," he said.

On Friday, the mayor accepted his share of responsibility for what he called "this shameful episode in our history."

"Why not? I'll take responsibility for it. I'll apologize to anyone. Yes, I would. There's nothing wrong with that. It should never have happened. And [with] the procedures and policies we have [put] in place, it will never happen again," the mayor said, referring to videotaped interrogations in murder cases and other reforms.

"Everybody should be held accountable, I guess, when you look back. The system could have broken down."

But Daley categorically denied that he deliberately looked the other way to avoid jeopardizing either his political ambitions or the prosecution of an accused cop killer.

"Do you think I would sit by, let anyone say that police brutality takes place, I know about it, that I had knowledge about it, and I would allow it? Then you don't know my public career. You don't know what I stand for," Daley said.

"I'm an attorney. I'm proud of my public service as state senator, state's attorney and mayor of the city of Chicago. I would not allow anything like this. One incident is one too many."

Earlier this week, a long-awaited special prosecutor's report concluded that Burge and his Area 2 underlings tortured criminal suspects for two decades while police brass looked the other way. But the report concluded it's too late to prosecute because the statute of limitations has long since run out.

"We accept Mayor Daley's explanation but would not have done it the way he did," by passing the Brzeczek letter along to underlings, instead of taking control of the matter himself, special prosecutor Edward Egan told reporters Wednesday.

Although hindsight is 20-20, Brzeczek's letter should, in fairness, be viewed in the political context that existed at the time it was written.

Campaign and prosecution

Daley was a law-and-order state's attorney gearing up to run for mayor against his political archrival, incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne.

Brzeczek was Byrne's handpicked police superintendent dropping a political bombshell in Daley's lap -- not by phone, as state's attorneys and police chiefs would normally be expected to communicate on urgent matters, but by mail.

And regardless of their divergent views, neither Daley nor Brzeczek wanted to do anything to jeopardize the prosecution of Andrew and Jacky Wilson, who were accused of brutally murdering two Chicago Police officers, a "heater case" if there ever was one.

The animus between Daley and Brzeczek would only increase over the years.

Brzeczek ran an unsuccessful campaign against Daley in 1984. Daley subsequently prosecuted Brzeczek on charges of theft and misconduct as superintendent. Brzeczek was acquitted of those charges. To this day, he views the prosecution as Daley's political revenge.

After being singled out for criticism by special prosecutors earlier this week, Brzeczek insisted he was being made a scapegoat in a venomous statement that reopened old political wounds.

"Does Daley ever wear the jacket for anything? No. I know the guy can't speak. But I did not know he could not read" the letter about Wilson's injuries, he said.

African-American leaders have predicted that Daley will pay a political price for failing to pursue torture allegations against Burge.

They called it a "potential bombshell" that could "turn into a lightning rod" in the black community if the mayor runs for re-election in February -- even moreso than the rigged hiring that led to the conviction of the mayor's patronage chief and three others.

On Friday, Daley acknowledged that the abuses don't "play well in any community" and that "there are those who will seek to play politics and draw inferences that aren't there" about his conduct as state's attorney.

"No matter how awful the crime, no suspect should be subject to the kinds of abuses detailed in this report. And no suspect should ever be coerced into confessing to crimes he did not commit," he said.

"It fundamentally undermines our system of justice and destroys public confidence. My emphasis is and will continue to be on making sure that we are doing everything possible to ensure that the horrendous abuses of two and three decades ago never happen again."

fspielman@suntimes.com