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Chicago Defender: Did Area 2 cops cross the line?

By all indications, Michael Hoke was a good cop.A Chicago police detective since 1970, Hoke earned several promotions, commendations and awards before he retired in 2001 after heading the force's internal affairs division for six years.
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But his accomplished career has been muddied by a stint he served in the Area 2 Violent Crimes Unit during the mid-1980s. Years later, he was accused of helping some of the police department's most notorious detectives torture suspects during interrogations.

Yet despite dozens of suspects who said they were terrorized at Area 2, Hoke has never been charged with a crime or held civilly liable in any police brutality lawsuit. Court records, sworn statements and interviews suggest Hoke may have been implicated because he worked at the Area 2 police station under former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge, whose name has become synonymous with police torture.It's been decades since the first allegations of torture surfaced.

Besides Hoke, dozens of former and current officers at both Area 2 and Area 3 police headquarters have been accused but never charged.

Some may be innocent and implicated merely because they worked with Burge. Others may have participated in torturing suspects during interrogations, using the same tools and techniques employed by Burge, but proof may be hard to come by. Still others, perhaps the lion's share of the officers, fall into a vast gray area: They may have known about torturous practices but said or did nothing to stop them.

This spring, a special prosecutor is expected to release the findings from a three-year investigation into police torture. But few believe the investigation will yield any definitive answers, and fewer anticipate any criminal charges will be filed. If their predictions hold true, one of Chicago's most infamous mysteries - whether torture was widespread in the detective units and, if so, who was responsible - will remain unsolved.

-- Beatings, electroshock, radiator burns

The accusations that some police officers tortured suspects during interrogations date back to February 1982, when brothers Andrew and Jackie Wilson were brought to the Brighton Park District headquarters - the old Area 2 station - after being arrested on charges of killing two Chicago police officers.

It was there, in a dimly lighted interrogation room on the second floor of the two-story building at 91st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, that Andrew Wilson first met Burge.

Burge and several detectives under his command were decorated Vietnam War veterans and respected police officers. But their dealings with Wilson were anything but respectful. Wilson claimed Burge put a bag over his head, punched and kicked him, shocked his ears and genitals with an electrical box, and burned his chest, arms, face and chin on a radiator until he confessed.

Wilson was not the only one to complain of mistreatment. Dozens of suspects said they suffered similar types of abuse, as well as being threatened with a gun and shocked with cattle prods.

The allegations point to Burge as the ringleader. According to sworn testimony and documents obtained from the People's Law Office, which represents many of the alleged torture victims, at least 66 people claimed they were tortured while in the custody of Burge or officers under his command between 1973 and 1991.

For years, police and city officials refused calls from outside groups for a comprehensive investigation of the torture claims. But in 1990, the Office of Professional Standards, the police department's civilian investigative arm, issued a report that concluded the abuse was "systemic" and named 50 suspects victimized from 1973 to 1986. The "Goldston Report," written by OPS investigator Michael Goldston, found that Burge was directly involved in at least half of the cases, including eight of the nine cases when electroshock was used.

A second OPS investigation in 1990 supported the torture claims made by Andrew Wilson. Those findings, along with the police brutality lawsuit Wilson filed, prompted the Police Board - the department's disciplinary branch - to fire Burge in 1993 for using excessive force.

Besides Burge, two other officers - John Yucaitis and Patrick O'Hara - were suspended for 15 months each for using excessive force and then reinstated with back pay.No other officers were disciplined, and various brutality lawsuits against them were dropped. That didn't sit well with many suspects, who pushed for greater accountability.

Their cry was bolstered in 1999 by U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur, who said he agreed with the Goldston Report and called torturous practices "common knowledge" at Area 2 and at Area 3 headquarters, then located at 39th Street and California Avenue.

"Both internal police accounts and numerous lawsuits and appeals brought by suspects alleging such abuse substantiate that those beatings and other means of torture occurred as an established practice, not just on an isolated basis," said Shadur, who ordered the police to release the Goldston Report to the public.

Finally, in April 2002, Cook County Criminal Court Presiding Judge Paul Biebel appointed a special prosecutor to examine the litany of allegations against Chicago police detectives. Former Illinois Appellate Court Judge Edward J. Egan, who turns 83 in May, was chosen to head the investigation.

Egan and his staff were charged with reviewing dozens of torture claims to determine any potential culpability. Their findings could include recommendations for prosecution.

-- Under a cloud of suspicion

No one will say how many officers and others the special prosecutor is examining. But at least 14 detectives implicated in Burge's torture regime are still working in law enforcement, government payroll documents show. Four are on the Chicago police force, three others serve as investigators for the Cook County Sheriff, and another three work in similar capacities for the Cook County State's Attorney. Several others serve in private law enforcement roles, including as private investigators and security officers.

Many activists believe the former detectives do not deserve to stay in crime-fighting positions, given the sheer number and seriousness of the allegations against them.

"The city and the department have entered into a gentleman's agreement to consolidate the troops and circle the wagons to protect their own," said David Bates, a former Area 2 prisoner who now serves as coordinator for the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights.

-- Law enforcement officials stand behind the detectives.

"These are simply allegations, which haven't come to fruition as of yet," said Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police. "It's unfair of anyone to make suppositions one way or the other about any of the officers with allegations against them . . . We need to keep an open mind on many of these issues and the outcome."

John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County State's Attorney's office, criticized the "baseless accusations" against the officers. "There's been no police officer [criminally] charged with anything, to my knowledge, in any court."

One of those officers is former Det. Michael Hoke, who was assigned to Area 2's Violent Crimes Unit for more than three years. He has always proclaimed his innocence, saying he was not involved in inflicting torture on suspects during interrogations.

Although he was named in the Goldston Report and sued by alleged torture victims, anonymous letters sent to the People's Law Office in 1989 described Hoke as a "weak link" in the torture accusations. The letters say Hoke and Burge "constantly were arguing" and described Hoke as "not the beating type."

Hoke, the letters say, was a "thorough humorless workaholic who stood up to Burge every time he could."

In a 1996 deposition, Hoke acknowledged that he and Burge "got along," but said his opinion changed after the Police Board fired Burge for torturing Andrew Wilson.

Hoke, who was vacationing in Mexico when Wilson was arrested and beaten, said under oath: "Based on the rulings of the court and the hearing process, [Burge] must have done what they accused him of, and he suffered the consequences."

Last year, two alleged torture suspects who originally named Hoke as one of
their assailants changed their stories. In an April 2004 sworn statement, Anthony Holmes accused Hoke of participating in an interrogation that included electroshocks and beatings. But later, in the same statement, he identified other officers - not Hoke - as his assailants.

George Powell, who was arrested in 1979 in connection with a crime purportedly committed by his uncle and another man, originally said Burge and Hoke led fellow detectives in repeatedly beating him. But under oath in June 2004, Powell only pinpointed Burge as the officer who tortured him.

No one will say whether Hoke has appeared before the special prosecutor, and attempts to reach Hoke were unsuccessful.

-- The new breed

After running Area 2's Violent Crimes Unit for seven years, Burge was transferred in 1988 to Area 3, where he ran the entire station. Several members of his old unit came with him. But Burge also worked with a new crop of young detectives at Area 3, including Kenneth Boudreau.

Fresh off a tour of military duty in the Middle East under Operation Desert Storm, Boudreau had joined the "third watch," the group of detectives who worked the overnight shift.

In 1991, several Area 3 detectives - some of the new crop as well as some former Area 2 veterans - investigated a murder that appeared to be a gang-related shooting. The detectives arrested 13-year-old Marcus Wiggins of Englewood.

Wiggins ultimately signed a confession, but not before he said he was punched repeatedly by a tall, blue-eyed detective who also administered shock treatment to his hands. Wiggins claimed he was barely conscious and had not read the confession before he signed it.

A Cook County judge threw out the case against Wiggins after suppressing his coerced statement.

Wiggins never identified Boudreau as his attacker, but he named the detective in a civil lawsuit he later filed against several Area 3 detectives, claiming Boudreau knew about the torture and failed to report it. Wiggins settled his case in 1996 for $95,000.

Boudreau also secured confessions from at least a dozen murder suspects whose charges were later dropped and defendants who were acquitted, according to court documents. One of Boudreau's cases fell apart after the defendant's lawyer discovered the suspect was in jail at the time of the murder; DNA evidence undercut murder charges against another man.

Lawyers for alleged victims of Boudreau's abuse say he has a reputation for manipulating suspects who are juveniles or mentally disabled. They say his intimidation tactics include denying requests for parents or lawyers to be present, refusing to provide food or the use of a restroom, and punching, kicking and choking the suspects.

In a 1996 deposition, Boudreau said he received training in juvenile interrogations as a police officer in Palos Hills and Chicago. Under oath, Boudreau denied allegations of inappropriately questioning juveniles.

"I consider myself a professional, and none of those acts, as much as the defense attorneys don't want to believe, would never occur," Boudreau said.

Chicago attorney Erika Cunliffe, who filed court papers on behalf of a suspect who claims Boudreau and other detectives threatened and brutalized him, documented 37 incidents implicating Boudreau in official misconduct, such as beating, bagging and electroshocking suspects. From 1991 to 1995, five complaints were lodged against Boudreau, according to OPS files.

"It seems as though Burge passed the torch to Boudreau," said Bertha Escamilla, director of the community organization Families of the Wrongfully Convicted. "We have a whole new crop of torturers at the helm now who are up to the same old tricks."

Cunliffe agrees. "Although Burge left the department in 1993, many of the officers he trained and with whom he served have remained," she wrote in court documents. "Many of them admired Burge and his methods and have perpetuated the cult of race-based abuse he fostered in other police stations throughout the city."

Boudreau testified that he was ordered to serve a 10-day suspension in 1995 for failing to have a youth officer present while interrogating a juvenile, but his punishment was later reduced to a reprimand.

Since then, Boudreau has accumulated an impressive list of commendations. As of 2000, he had received more than 70 honorable mentions for meritorious awards, been named his district's police officer of the month twice and racked up nine departmental commendations. Yet Boudreau's name keeps surfacing in connection with controversial cases.

In February, Dan Young Jr., a mentally disabled man convicted of rape and murder along with Harold Hill, was released from prison after DNA evidence cleared him. (Hill is still serving time on an unrelated robbery conviction, but the rape and murder charges were dropped.) Young's lawyer said the men plan to file a lawsuit for wrongful conviction. Boudreau was one of the detectives who worked the case.

In a sworn statement, Boudreau called the accusations against him by criminal defendants "nothing more than perjured testimony to try and escape the punishment that may or may not come from the judicial system."

It is not known whether Boudreau has appeared before the special prosecutor investigative police torture, and efforts to reach his attorney were unsuccessful.

-- The 'good' cop

Several alleged torture victims said the officers often used a "good cop, bad cop" technique, during which one police interrogator would speak softly to the suspect while the other would be more verbally forceful. One of the "good" cops, according to numerous accounts, was Daniel McWeeny, a veteran of more than 25 years who retired in 1996 and now works as an investigator for the Cook County State's Attorney's office.

When police arrested Melvin Jones on Feb. 5, 1982 in connection with a murder, McWeeny talked to him in an interview room at Area 2. McWeeny testified before the Police Board that he believed Jones was involved in the shooting, but that he couldn't have acted alone.

The detective said he tried a calm approach to try to crack the suspect.

When it didn't work, McWeeny said, he appealed to Jones' conscience.

Jones didn't dispute the "good cop" tactic used by McWeeny, but added that the "bad cop" was Burge, who was armed with a gun and a small wooden box with cords he used to electroshock Jones' feet, leg and genitals. Jones testified that McWeeny was present when Burge punched him, but that McWeeny helped get the commander out of the interrogation room.

McWeeny claimed Burge never stepped foot in the room.

Another alleged torture victim, James Andrews, who was brought to Area 2 in connection with a shooting, testified in 1993 that McWeeny questioned him aggressively but never struck him.

Flint Taylor, an attorney with the People's Law Office, said although McWeeny played the "good guy" in interrogations, he knew the suspects were being beaten and tortured while he wasn't in the room.

McWeeny, who is being sued on brutality claims by three exonerated Death Row inmates, could not be reached for comment. Attorney Richard Sikes, who represents McWeeny in the civil lawsuits, said he instructed McWeeny not to comment on any matters related to the cases. He would not say whether McWeeny appeared before the special prosecutor.

-- Weeding out problem officers

Shortly before Lt. Peter Dignan's plans to retire in 2002 became public, several community groups protested at Police Board meetings after learning he was still on the force. Their efforts received little fanfare.

"We were outraged to find out that his career was allowed to proceed - even getting commendations and promotions - when there was so much evidence of his involvement in torturing suspects," said Bates of the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights. Bates' murder conviction was overturned in 1994 after he served more than 11 years in prison. Evidence revealed he had been tortured by police into confessing. He was retried in 1995 and acquitted.

Dignan, who worked under Burge and has been repeatedly connected to allegations of abuse, was criticized in the Goldston Report for his involvement in the 1983 murder investigations of suspects Gregory Banks and Darrell Cannon.

According to Banks, Dignan placed a plastic bag over his head, electroshocked him and beat him with a flashlight during an interrogation. Cannon said Dignan electroshocked him and put an empty gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger several times during questioning.

Banks filed a lawsuit against Dignan, Burge and other detectives, which the city settled in 1993 for $92,500.

An OPS investigation also supported both Banks' and Cannon's claims, but there was no move to fire Dignan, and he served on the force for 33 years. Dignan now works as an investigator for the Cook County Sheriff.

"Our attempt at getting [Dignan] fired was essentially ignored, and we were told it was not worth pursuing because Dignan was retiring anyway," Bates said.

Mary D. Powers, a long-time prisoner advocate and board member of Citizens Alert, a community watchdog group, said she was appalled by Dignan's promotion, noting that Burge also remained on the force and received promotions for at least a decade after torture allegations first surfaced.

She said there is no push for accountability within the police department and criticized the department for failing to deal with the accumulation of complaints against officers.

"The department discards every complaint the OPS deems as not sustained or unfounded and never thinks about them again," Powers said. "That makes it almost impossible to see if a pattern emerges among the same officers. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess."

Lawyers and activists point to the police department's failure to flag problem officers as a major reason why excessive force persists.

Craig Futterman, a civil rights lawyer with the University of Chicago's Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, said 90 percent of abuses are committed by about 5 percent of the officers.

"A small minority on the force can do a heck of a lot of damage," he said. "To not have an effective internal system to weed out most of these offenders is inexcusable. It shouldn't take 30 complaints to identify a problem officer."

Better self-policing also would save the city millions of dollars it pays out in settlements for excessive force cases, Futterman added. As of 2002, settlements and attorney fees in lawsuits filed by alleged police torture victims have amounted to more than $1.25 million, according to court documents.

"Even if the department doesn't care about the human cost of abusing suspects, they should be concerned in terms of these officers being a walking liability. And that affects not only the economic standing of the department, but the reputation as well. It's not fair for these guys to bring disgrace to the good officers out there, who by far outnumber the bad ones," Futterman said.

David Bayless, director of news affairs for the Chicago Police Department, refused to comment on the allegations, but said the police will begin videotaping interrogations in homicide investigations, in accordance with a new state law.

-- Lingering doubts

Richard Brzeczek, the Chicago police superintendent at the time allegations of police brutality first came to light, said he expects the special prosecutor to blame one person: him.

"There's only one outsider -- that's me," he said. "I'm not part of [Mayor Richard M. Daley's] political structure. "When it's all said and done, you're going to find out that the bottom line is: It's Brzeczek's fault," he added. "They're going to blame me because I was superintendent at the time. I'm convinced of it."

Decades later, Brzeczek, now a Chicago attorney, acknowledges that some torture took place at Area 2.

"I'm not one to deny that this was going on," he said. "I didn't see it go on, under my own eyes. But when there are sufficient allegations and people saying the same thing . . . anything is possible."

More than $1 million has been spent on the special prosecutor's investigation so far. The findings could include recommendations of prosecution, but because the torture allegations date back more than 30 years, legal experts say the statue of limitations may have run out on certain actions.

For example, the three-year statute of limitations for charges related to physical assault or coercion has long expired. Many lawyers speculate that the special prosecutor could charge some officers with conspiracy if there is evidence of an ongoing cover-up within the police department.

Civil rights attorney Futterman isn't convinced the special prosecutor will take any action. "I hope some action is taken," he said. "[But] I'm skeptical in part because of the time it has taken and what has been done to date. I don't feel as though it's an aggressive investigation."

Sammy Lacey, a former Area 2 detective who appeared before the special prosecutor, equated the investigation to "a big witch hunt."

"[The special prosecutor] knows that," said Lacey, now a practicing attorney in Chicago. "Everyone knows that. Because if they did [know anything], they would have indicted someone by now."

Still, many Chicago lawyers and activists are anxiously awaiting criminal charges.

"Unless Burge and his progeny are indicted, it can be expected that the public respect for police will descend to the level of respect that the police have shown for the public," Lawrence Kennon, a former Cook County prosecutor and member of the Justice Coalition of Greater Chicago, said in a written statement.

Powers, of Citizens Alert, said the special prosecutor has a great opportunity. "I can't believe with all they are looking at that they won't come out with something definitive," she said.

Sikes, the Chicago attorney who represents McWeeny and several other police officers in civil lawsuits, has encouraged his clients not to talk to the special prosecutor.

"In light of the fact that the investigation is going on and we're not really able to get any definitive statement as to what is going on, my recommendation is that they not testify at this point," Sikes said.

"My clients all want to testify and defend themselves, but we're looking for some clarification from the special prosecutor before we do that," he added.

While there is no doubt in Powers' mind that torture practices were commonplace under Burge and others, she acknowledges the possibility that some officers may have been wrongly accused. She also said she is overwhelmed by the scope of the scandal.

"The web of victims and officers involved keeps expanding, so it constantly seems like we are just touching the tip of the iceberg," Powers said. "Even after the [special prosecutor's] report comes out, we'll never really feel as though we got to the bottom of all the allegations."

Jerry Brown, a Chicago attorney who specializes in civil lawsuits, said the police torture cases that have been filed since the early 1990s also likely name detectives and officials who were only marginally involved. He said the legal strategy of being overbroad in assigning blame causes an extensive list of defendants, some of whom inevitably are dropped as the lawsuit progresses.

"Is it a possibility that there may be a permanent stain on the reputation of some of the officers who have been named and may later be cleared? Yes," Brown said.

"There may always be lingering doubts about those people," he added. "The basis for which some officers are named will presumably get sorted out in the courtroom. But in the meantime, it may take a while before someone who may be innocent is exonerated."

-- Brian Watson and Jessica Young are reporters for the Medill News Service.
 
 

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