Des Plaines officer loses job for verbal attack

A veteran Des Plaines officer who verbally assaulted anti-abortion protesters in May 2006 was fired Monday.

Officer Dick V. Lalowski was stripped of his job after 11 years on the force for prodding a protester in the shoulder with his index fingers and calling her a "fat (expletive) cow" during a protest outside a Des Plaines women's health clinic.

Members of the fire and police board voted unanimously to fire the 44-year-old man more than a year after they first convened to hear the case. About six months ago, they found Lalowski guilty of harassing the protesters.

Police Chief James Prandini had pushed for his termination.

"I just can't have an officer treating the public this way," he said Monday. "It has nothing to do with the (abortion) issue."

Lalowski didn't attend the hearing announcing his fate at Des Plaines city hall. He has been suspended without pay since October 2006.

A lawyer for Lalowski said his client suffered from post-traumatic stress following a police shooting in 1995.

Lalowski had claimed he was exercising his freedom of speech. He had stopped during his shift at the clinic to tell the protesters not to block the entrance, threatening arrest.

After his shift ended, Lalowski returned in plainclothes to confront the female protesters.

Lalowski had said he felt a 6-foot-tall photo of an aborted fetus that the protesters held was too graphic and could offend a woman who had just had a miscarriage. He also admitted that he accused a protester of gluttony because she was overweight.

During the hearings, 911 tapes showed that a police officer and dispatcher had downplayed the incident as Lalowski challenging the women about their abortion views. The officer and dispatcher have since been disciplined, Prandini said.