Alfonso Sanchez, who lost his job as a Joliet police officer this week, issued a written statement Thursday that said he is consulting with his attorney on next steps “to continue my pursuit of transparency and to clear my name.”

Sanchez had not commented immediately after the Joliet Board of Fire and Police Commissioners unanimously upheld the police chief’s recommendation that he be terminated on Monday.

The eight-paragraph statement from Sanchez discusses his time on the force since being hired as a Joliet officer in April 2022, his previous experience with the department’s Police Explorer Program that he joined in 2015 and as a part-time police cadet, among other things.

Sanchez did not say whether he intends to take legal steps to regain his job, but spoke of himself as though he intended to continue his police career.

“I take great pride in being a Joliet police officer,” he said at one point in the statement.

Sanchez goes on later to say, “I also recognize that I am a young officer still learning; while I always act with the best intentions, I am not infallible. Mistakes have been made in the past in separate, unrelated incidents, and I have accepted and faced the consequences.”

The police board acted on a December recommendation from Police Chief William Evans that Sanchez be terminated.

The board’s decision points to an incident on July 21, 2024, in which Sanchez “drove his squad car at high speeds” before crashing into another officer’s vehicle.

It also cites an incident on May 30, 2024, in which Sanchez was charged with, among other things, failure to secure a crime scene and prevent access to a vehicle with bullet holes.

Those incidents followed a 75-day suspension earlier in the year in which Sanchez was disciplined for his conduct in a chase in January 2024 that ended with the pursued vehicle crashing into another car, in which two people were injured. Sanchez has been named as a defendant in three lawsuits over that high-speed pursuit.

Sanchez was not critical of the police board, saying that he did “appreciate the dedication” of the commissioners.

He also noted “that at no time were any allegations against me related to the use of force or violations of civil rights. I take immense pride in my name, my reputation and my service to this community.”

Sanchez said that as a Joliet police officer, he made six arrests for possession of controlled substance, three arrests for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and seven arrests for “recovered stolen/aggravated fleeing.”

Sanchez also said he was involved in two incidents in which “firearms were pointed at offices” and had received a merit award.

Evans, asked to respond to Sanchez’s statement, did not comment on the specifics but issued his own statement that said in part, “It is the Joliet Police Department’s priority that our members are held accountable for their actions, as accountability reinforces both the legitimacy of our agency and the safety of our community.”