Joliet police board to have another termination hearing for officer

A new police board hearing has been set regarding the recommended termination of a Joliet police officer facing lawsuits over a 2024 vehicle chase of a suspect that resulted in a crash.

At 5 p.m. Monday, the Joliet Board of Fire and Police Commissioners plans to hold another hearing for Officer Alfonso Sanchez, according to an agenda released on Friday.

Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans has recommended Sanchez for termination following an internal affairs investigation of two cases.

Sanchez has been named as a defendant in three lawsuits filed against him over his Jan. 7, 2024, vehicle pursuit of Mohammad Nakhleh, 33, of Plainfield. Nakhleh is facing several charges following the incident, including aggravated fleeing from police.

Nakhleh himself is one of three plaintiffs suing Sanchez over the incident. The City of Joliet has also been named as a defendant in the lawsuits.

Nakhleh’s lawsuit claims Sanchez disobeyed a supervisor’s order to terminate his pursuit, failed to activate his emergency lights, traveled more than 50 mph over the speed limit and did not have a valid driver’s license at the time.

Kasey Artrip and Abigail Barrow were in a vehicle that was struck by Nakhleh’s vehicle during Sanchez’s pursuit. The two are suing Sanchez, along with Nakhleh, over the same incident.

This year, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners have held a few private hearings on Evans’ charges against Sanchez.

Todd Lenzie, the city’s interim corporation counsel, has told board commissioners they can decide on whether they choose to follow Evans’ recommendation to fire Sanchez.

Sanchez’s mother, Amy Sanchez, Ronald Green, a local business owner, and Jaylen Green, his son, spoke about Alfonso Sanchez at the June 9 board meeting.

Amy Sanchez said she was not asking for any preferential treatment or leniency toward her son but that he receive fair treatment.

“If Alfonso is terminated, this department and our community will lose not only a good officer but a young man with immense potential. I ask that you, the board, take a look a close at all the facts and consider the escalation of discipline over time,” Amy Sanchez said.

Ronald Green said Alfonso Sanchez is “one of the most respectful kids that I’ve ever met.”

“I can’t speak to the matter that’s going on but like I said, I can speak to his character. I would like to see him kept as a good kid in his community,” he said.

Jaylen Green, who’s Ronald Green’s son, said his best friends with Alfonso Sanchez since they were children.

“He always talked about being a police officer growing up and just doing what’s right for the community,” he said.

Nakhleh’s attorneys filed an amended lawsuit on May 6 that cited a report last year from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office on their civil investigation of the police department.

The report said the department’s accountability systems fail to “adequately detective, investigate, respond to and document misconduct,” and “these failures directly contribute to patterns of unlawful policing.”

The lawsuit alleged the city (through a “pattern and practice”) had created a culture of giving Alfonso Sanchez the “green light to engage in an illegal chase – because he knew that no matter how reckless his conduct was – he would not be disciplined.”

“What is unusual about this case, is that [Alfonso Sanchez’s] conduct was so egregious and so shocked the conscious, such that the Joliet Police Department investigated and formally found that [Alfonso Sanchez] violated the law […] and recommended his firing for the conduct alleged in this complaint,” Nakhleh’s lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit alleged during the Jan. 7, 2024 incident, “neither [Nakhleh] nor [Alfonso Sanchez] had a valid driver’s license.”

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Office declined to comment when asked why Sanchez had not been charged with any offense in connection with having no driver’s license, as alleged in the lawsuit.