Elgin releases disciplinary record for officer in fatal shooting
Disciplinary records for the Elgin police lieutenant who fatally shot a woman earlier this month include six complaints in his 19-year career, none of them sustained after internal review.
Lt. Christian Jensen has been on administrative leave since the March 12 shooting of Decynthia Clements. Police body camera video released Thursday shows Clements was shot as she exited her vehicle holding a knife.
Jensen's disciplinary records were released after a Freedom of Information Act request. All complaints in which Jensen is named include other officers. There were two complaints of excessive use of force in 2006 and 2007.
A man filed a complaint in 2007 saying Jensen and other gang unit officers stopped him while he was at the Elgin Mall and asked why he was there, searched him for no reason and choked him while he was unconscious, documents show.
Jensen and the other officers said the man was wearing gang colors and was arrested after he became argumentative. They denied he was choked and the man didn't request medical treatment after arrest, the report said.
A man filed a complaint in 2006 saying Jensen and other officers used excessive force when they pulled him out of a vehicle by his neck and arrested him. He also said he was arrested twice more due to warrants for the same case, which he equated to harassment.
The officers said the man was in the driver's seat with the motor running and an open container of alcohol.
A man stopped for not wearing a seat belt filed a complaint against Jensen and another officer in 2009. The man, who also was issued a citation for driving with no proof of insurance, argued he was stopped because he's black.
A 2009 complaint came from a man who said Jensen and another officer harassed him by giving him a parking ticket and making inappropriate comments about him going back to prison.
A man complained in 2016 that the police department harasses black people and named Jensen and two other officers. The man was arrested on charges of driving with a suspended license; he argued he had a right to drive under "the supreme law of the land."
A woman complained in February 2017 that she felt threatened and harassed by Jensen and others during a traffic stop. During a later interview with a police commander, the woman said she'd known Jensen for years and he was just being "a (smart aleck)."
The March 12 shooting was the first time Jensen discharged his weapon, officials said.