Chicago DUI Cop Joe Parker Under Investigation; Dozens Of DUI Charges Dropped

Our Chicago DUI Attorneys comment on DUI cop Joe Parker as the investigation into Parker heats up. After years and years of Parker arresting motorists for DUI and many motorists complaining that the arrests were baseless, the Chicago Police Department and State’s Attorney’s office have finally launched investigations into Parker.

Full story follows below:

Police investigating DUI arrests

CHICAGO DUI COP FACES 3 PROBES

BY FRANK MAIN

The Chicago Police Department has launched an internal investigation into whether an officer falsified information in two drunken-driving arrests on South Lake Shore Drive, court records show.

Meanwhile, the city’s Independent Police Review Authority is investigating a third DUI arrest on Lake Shore Drive by the same officer, Joe D. Parker, the records show.

And the Cook County state’s attorney’s office says a criminal investigation is under way, according to filings in U.S. District Court.

Those agencies are trying to block subpoenas for records involving Parker in connection with a lawsuit filed against him and the city. They say they can’t release the records without jeopardizing their investigations.

The state’s attorney’s office has dropped dozens of Parker’s DUI cases because of questions about the arrests, sources have told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The subpoenas were issued by attorney Gregory Kulis, who represents Wayne Jackson. Jackson maintains that he passed field sobriety and Breathalyzer tests but was still arrested by Parker on May 10, 2006, in the 3100 block of South Lake Shore Drive.

The Chicago Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division is investigating that case and Parker’s DUI arrest of Anthony Lindsey on March 1, 2008, in the 3900 block of South Lake Shore Drive, according to court filings. The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating Parker’s DUI arrest of Eric Turner on May 27, 2008, in the same area.

Prosecutors have been comparing Parker’s arrest reports to video recordings of the field sobriety tests he administered. Many of the videos, taken from a camera on his squad car, are inconsistent with what Parker said in the arrest reports, sources said.

As a result of the investigations, the top prosecutor in Cook County Traffic Court has asked the Chicago Police Department to assign video-equipped squad cars to officers who frequently make drunken-driving arrests, a source said.

In 2006, the Schaumburg-based Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists named Parker a “top cop” among area officers for making so many DUI arrests.

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