You can do a lot with $10 million in taxpayer funds these days.
The state of Illinois spent that amount this year to help upgrade local film studio sound stages, bolstering the area’s growing television and movie industry.
And two years ago, the county set aside $10 million to remediate contaminated former industrial sites, in a bid to spark much-needed redevelopment of those areas.
Or, you can pour it all into settling police misconduct suits filed against a single Chicago police lieutenant, Andrew Dakuras.
Taxpayers have spent an astounding $10.5 million over the years, paying out five lawsuits stemming from police misconduct allegations against the 29-year veteran, as the Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman and Tom Schuba reported.
And that amount could increase. The City Council Finance Committee on Wednesday was scheduled to vote on a $332,500 settlement in yet another misconduct lawsuit against Dakuras.
As Spielman and Schuba reported, former Gold Coast resident Jeanette Bass alleged in her lawsuit that she was physically and emotionally abused and then involuntarily admitted to a Northwestern Memorial Hospital psychiatric ward — all as a result of a 2019 arrest by Dakuras.
“This guy should not be a police officer,” Bass’s now-former attorney Gregory Kulis said.
Dakuras has won awards during his career, including for helping to rescue a woman from her abusive boyfriend. But he’s also apparently no stranger to trouble.
According to the Invisible Institute, Dakuras has been named in 82 misconduct complaints. Yes, police officers can be the targets of bogus complaints. But that number is more than 99% of all Chicago police officers.
In one case, a federal jury found Dakuras used excessive force when he — a sergeant at the time — allegedly beat and kicked a Cubs fan outside Wrigley Field after the team won the 2016 World Series. The jury ordered the city to pay the battered fan $35,000 and Dakuras to personally fork over $18,000.
Dakuras was stripped of his police powers three months ago in the wake of a social media post that allegedly showed him screaming obscenities and racial slurs at a fellow bar patron while off duty.
The city’s Law Department and police officials would not comment on the pending Bass settlement.
But Dakuras’ all-around behavior is both expensive and obscene. We wonder why he has remained in the police department and climbed the ranks. It’s hard not to see the expensive lawsuits and dozens of complaints as a slap in the face of any cop — or Chicagoan — who cares about good policing.
Cases like this make the already tough task of trust building between cops and civilians even harder.
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