Chicago cop alleges cover-up in police shooting

We recommend this article: Chicago cop alleges cover-up in police shooting: ‘I'm going to feel like Serpico, basically.’ Police sergeant Isaac Lambert of Chicago, Illinois, says that his supervisors pressured him to cover up the police shooting of 18-year-old Ricky Hayes. A Chicago officer shot and wounded Hayes although he did not pose a threat. Then the officer tried to bring false charges against Hayes. Sergeant Lambert intervened and ordered that Hayes be released instead of charged. Lambert refused his superiors’ orders to falsify the police report to cover up the illegal shooting. Lambert was removed from the detective bureau and anticipates further retaliation from his fellow officers.

Police officers who shoot civilians for no reason need to be held accountable. When departments cover up police brutality by lying in reports and bringing false charges, police misconduct thrives.

Lambert is quoted as saying, “Always tell the truth and always do what’s right, and don’t ever let some boss, especially someone who sits in an office all day at police headquarters, tell you to put your name on something that’s not right,” he told reporters. “You only have one reputation in life, and make sure that’s one that you can be proud of.”