CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson’s retirement (all times local):
11:15 a.m.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says retiring Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has agreed to stay on the job until the end of the year.
Lightfoot spoke Thursday morning at a news conference in which Johnson announced he was stepping down after more than three years as superintendent and more than three decades with the department.
Lightfoot says she and others in the city will work to “outline a plan for a smooth and orderly transition.” She did not talk about a possible successor.
Lightfoot praised Johnson as a tireless public servant who for more than three decades has known only one employer: the people of the city of Chicago.
Johnson said he has enjoyed his time as superintendent but that it has taken a toll on his health and his family.
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10:50 a.m.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson says he’s retiring after more than 30 years with the department, saying this is “the only home I’ve ever known.”
He made the announcement at a news conference on Thursday morning, a few hours after his spokesman confirmed the widespread speculation that Johnson was stepping down.
Johnson was named police superintendent in 2016 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and presided led the department during one of the most tumultuous periods in its history. When he took over, the city was experiencing a dramatic spike in gun violence. A big part of his job was to restore public confidence in the police force that had been shattered by a video of a white officer shooting a black teenager 16 times.
Johnson this week signaled he was close to retiring but insisted the decision had nothing to do with an investigation into a recent incident in which he was found asleep behind the wheel of his SUV and his acknowledgement to the mayor that he’d had a ’couple of drinks” with dinner that night.
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8:45 a.m.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson will announce his retirement after more than three years leading the department he joined as a patrolman in 1988.
Johnson earlier this week signaled his retirement decision would have nothing to do with an investigation into a recent incident in which he was found asleep behind the wheel of his SUV. His spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi (goo-lee-EHL’-mee), said on Thursday he would hold a news conference later in the day.
Guglielmi said he did not know when Johnson would step down.
Johnson became the city’s top cop during one of the most violent chapters in the city’s history. He found himself trying to regain public confidence in his department shattered by a video showing a white officer shooting a black teen 16 times.
He also has been a foil recently for President Donald Trump and boycotted Trump’s appearance at a national conference of police chiefs in Chicago.
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