Elgin cop gets 10-day suspension after 'unarrest' from suspected DUI
An Elgin police sergeant who was let off the hook by Sycamore police after being stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence was suspended Friday for 10 days by his own department.
Sgt. Mark Whaley was off duty and driving an unmarked police pickup truck when he was stopped April 8 by Sycamore police. He was let go without charges after the then-police chief, a former Elgin commander, showed up at the police station.
But Whaley, 46, was disciplined by the Elgin Police Department for transporting alcohol, consuming alcohol within eight hours of driving a police vehicle, and general conduct "that puts the department in a bad light," Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said.
This is the first suspension for Whaley, who's worked in Elgin 15 years, Swoboda said. "This is a case where an officer's decision was a bad one," he said. "He has been disciplined and we are moving on."
Elgin released the information in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Daily Herald. Whaley did not return a request for comment.
Whaley told Sycamore police he had a beer about an hour before being stopped. He smelled of alcohol, had glassy eyes and refused field sobriety and breath tests; an unopened can of beer was found on his passenger seat, police said.
Whaley was handcuffed and taken to the Sycamore police station and was let go after the arrival of then-Police Chief Glenn Theriault. Sycamore launched an investigation and Theriault resigned in June.
The Elgin investigation report states that Theriault said he told the arresting officer in Sycamore that it was that officer's decision whether to move forward with charges. Theriault said the officer decided against doing so.
"There is no evidence that (Whaley) used his office to get out of the stop, and there was no interference from the Elgin Police Department regarding the decision to 'unarrest' him," Swoboda said. "We weren't involved in that."
Elgin's investigation took a few months because the city unsuccessfully tried to get via FOIA Sycamore's investigation records and speak to witnesses about what happened that night, Swoboda said.
"What we were given were their police reports and some video and some text messages, but we wanted everything related to that night, and we were denied," he said.
Sycamore City Manager Brian Gregory didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Theriault and Elgin Cmdr. Colin Fleury spoke three times that night, according to the report.
The first call, from Theriault to Fleury, was "standard notification" to another police department when an officer is arrested, Swoboda said.
Fleury consulted with Swoboda, and called Theriault back to tell him that Elgin "was staying out of the situation. No one was going to come and get the vehicle, and no one from the Elgin Police Department would be coming to bond out Sergeant Whaley if charged, or pick him up in the event he is released without charges," the report states.
The final call was from Theriault to Fleury, to say Whaley would not face charges, the report states.
Whaley was allowed to use the police truck while off-duty because of his special investigations assignment. Others who get off-duty vehicles are command staff members, police dog unit officers and resident officers.