Joliet police board to set special meeting on report in officer’s termination case

The Joliet Board of Fire and Police Commissioners is expected to hold another special meeting regarding a report concerning an officer who has been recommended for termination.

Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans has recommended Officer Alfonso Sanchez for termination following an internal affairs investigation of two cases. He filed charges against Sanchez last year, accusing him of violating departmental policies.

The board has been tasked with deciding whether to sustain Evans’ recommendation to fire Sanchez.

This year, the board has held a few meetings in closed session on the Sanchez case. At Monday’s special meeting, the board held yet another closed session on the case.

When board commissioners returned from closed session, Todd Lenzie, the city’s interim corporation counsel, told them about a report they would review.

“We will set a special meeting for the report or the findings,” Lenzie said.

Lenzie gave no further specifics on the report during the meeting. Afterward, Lenzie declined to comment when asked whether the board concluded the Sanchez case.

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, including aggravated fleeing of an officer.

During Sanchez’s pursuit, Nakhleh’s vehicle collided with another vehicle occupied by Kasey Artrip and Abigail Barrow, both of whom were injured in the crash.

Nakhleh, Artrip and Barrow are suing Sanchez over claims that he disobeyed a supervisor’s order to terminate his pursuit, failed to activate his emergency lights, was speeding and did not have a valid driver’s license at the time.

Nakhleh’s lawsuit alleged “neither [Nakhleh] nor [Sanchez] had a valid driver’s license” during the incident.

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.

Officer’s supporters

Eight speakers have spoken publicly in support of Sanchez at recent police board meetings.

Among them were Sanchez’s mother, Amy Sanchez, Ronald Green, a local business owner, and Jaylen Green, his son, and retired Joliet Police Detective David Jackson.

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 close look 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 is Ronald Green’s son, said he has been 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.

At Monday’s meeting, Jackson said the department has a strict pursuit policy and rightfully so.

“But no policy can cover every real-world situation perfectly. Officer Sanchez responded in real time based on his training and his understanding at the moment. That doesn’t make him reckless, it makes him human and humans grow,” Jackson said.

Lawsuit cites state report

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

The report said the department’s accountability systems fail to “adequately detect, 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.