West Chicago police sergeant fired for holding movie night

A longtime West Chicago police sergeant was fired this week for showing on-duty officers a movie as a "reward" during their shift.

Sgt. Leonardo Aviles, a 19-year veteran of the department, has been on unpaid administrative leave since November.

The West Chicago Civil Service Commission voted 3-0 to fire Aviles for back-to-back "movie nights" held during midnight shifts in October.

Aviles organized the showing of the police thriller "Street Kings" the first night, and permitted the showing of "Pride and Glory" the second night, the commission found.

The on-duty officers "should have been on the street patrolling and not watching a feature-length film," said Patrick K. Bond, attorney for West Chicago Chief Donald Goncher.

Aside from this "lapse in judgment," Bond said, Aviles has had "a fairly distinguished record and has done a lot of great things for the department."

Aviles plans to appeal for administrative review and will seek reinstatement with full pay and privileges, said Joseph Mazzone, his attorney.

Mazzone said the West Chicago Police Department has a history of rewarding officers during their shifts.

"There was evidence they watched football games, had barbecues, watched the World Series, and they would bring the whole shift off the street to do that," Mazzone said.

Goncher said supervisors have rewarded officers with barbecues during their lunch break and "everyone is going to come in at lunch time and watch the World Series."

"There may have been an overlap of a few minutes," Goncher said. "To have the entire shift off at one time, no."

The entire on-duty shift watched "Street Kings," starring Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, from roughly 1 to 3:45 a.m., according to the commission's findings. All patrol members except one watched "Pride and Glory" the next night, the commission found.

"There are not a lot of things going on in a department of this size" in the middle of the night in October, Mazzone said, and the officers "could have easily responded to any call for emergency service without a hitch."

Mazzone characterized the movies as "tongue-in-cheek" training films. The commission disagreed.

The commission also found Aviles intimidated an officer when he asked why the officer "ratted" him out about the movies.

Aviles is still eligible for his pension, but is one year short of being fully vested and not yet retirement age, Mazzone said.

"He is trying to stay afloat," Mazzone said. "This has been a financially devastating incident."