- Credibility:
CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department launched an internal probe Thursday after a passerby found Supt. Eddie Johnson asleep in his car shortly after midnight, police said.
The department’s top spokesman said Johnson himself recommended the probe. The spokesman said the top cop had pulled over after feeling lightheaded and parked his car.
It happened at 12:30 a.m. Thursday near Johnson’s home.
Johnson, 59, “pulled over and parked his vehicle near his home after feeling lightheaded,” top police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. “A passerby called 911 and reported a person asleep at a stop sign. Responding Officers arrived at the scene, and checked on the Superintendent’s well being. Officers did not observe any signs of impairment, and the Superintendent drove himself home.”
Johnson called for the probe in the morning, he said.
” The Superintendent opened this investigation because, as he put it, ‘whether you are Police Officer or a Superintendent, all Officers ought to be held to the highest standard,’ ” Guglielmi said.
Johnson has faced multiple health issues since becoming the head of the Chicago Police Department. In 2017, he received a kidney transplant from his son after years of battling a chronic kidney disease. He fainted at a press conference that same year, an incident blamed on his blood pressure medication.
Earlier this year, doctors found a blood clot in his lung.
Police said Johnson saw his doctor Monday and Tuesday this week about a medication change. On Wednesday, he reported that he felt “exhausted.” On Thursday, Johnson again went to his doctor to be evaluated for “issues concerning his blood pressure,” police said.
