Chicago inspector general report harshly criticizes fire department for fabricating documents on suspected DUI

Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg is determined to stop special treatment for certain individuals. According to the latest report, members of the Chicago Fire Department were found to have falsified reports under the guise of “professional courtesy.”

“Chicago has a decades-long, generations-long arc of mistrust and distrust in city government,” Witzburg told the I-Team.

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The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has strongly criticized the actions of some Chicago Fire Department personnel. The report details an incident where an assistant deputy chief paramedic was discovered slumped over the wheel of a vehicle at an intersection. Subsequently, an on-duty captain EMT drove the paramedic away from the scene.

Released recently, Witzburg’s quarterly report reveals that her office received information suggesting that the assistant deputy chief paramedic was under the influence at the time of the incident. It further discloses that CFD members not only falsified reports but also provided false information to the Chicago police in defense of the paramedic. Additionally, the paramedic was taken to a fire station and allowed to rest for an hour and a half in an office.

“We recommended a range of different disciplinary actions for the subjects in this investigation, most of which the fire department either declined to implement at all or implemented much lighter disciplinary penalties,” Witzburg said.

The incident is eerily reminiscent of misconduct allegations against former Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, after he was found slumped over the wheel of his city SUV in 2019. An inspector general report in Johnson’s case found he was alcohol-intoxicated.

In the case of the Chicago Fire Deputy chief paramedic, Witzburg says, “The reports and evidence gathering at the time of the incident that would have allowed us to make that determination never happened. That was the intention of these activities: to sort of prevent the detection of the incident. I do not think that the response on discipline reflects an effort to take seriously this sort of misconduct.”

During the investigation, the assistant deputy chief paramedic retired from CFD, and Chicago fire issued a six-day suspension to the on-duty captain EMT who falsified reports, according to Witzburg.

The report says the fire department insists there was no special treatment in this case, and there was no indication the assistant deputy chief paramedic was intoxicated.