Lawsuit Alleges Falsified Police Sgt Test Scores; Unlawful Police Sgt Promotions –

Dolton, Ill. (ECWd) –

An amended complaint was filed earlier this month in Cook County Circuit Court naming Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard in her individual capacity, Dolton Police Chief Lewis Lacey in his individual capacity, and Dolton Board of Fire and Police Commissioners (“BOFPC”) Board Member DeVonte Stewart in his official capacity as Defendants.

The Complaint alleges falsified police sergeant tests scores, unlawful promotions, and that the BOFPC is required to have three commissioners, however, Mayor Henyard has yet to appoint any replacements for the two vacancies on the commission.

The result of the two vacancies is that no business may be conducted, and no official action of the commission can happen due to lack of quorum, even though “pseudo official” action has purportedly taken place.

Promotional testing for Police Sergeant was conducted, with “all promotions shall be made from the three having the highest rating” according to the Rules and Regulations of the Commission.

Five officers tested, and three of the five failed to qualify; Vincent Nunez, Terry Young, and Michael Gilhooly all failed to qualify with the required 70% score, even after the Chief/Merit points were included.

A Final Eligibility List (Exhibit 1) must be created by a duly appointed commission, during a public meeting, however, the list was published on November 3, 2023, without the required commission membership approving it, with the five individuals named, including two who passed and the three with their failing scores.

On January 2, 2024, Henyard promoted four of the five from the list to Sergeant, even though it was not on the Dolton Board of Trustees meeting agenda, and even though three of the officers had failed the tests. The village board never voted on this action. The highest scoring officer was not promoted. See meeting video (here) where Henyard opined that she was “so proud” of them for just passing their tests – allegedly know full well they did not.

On January 8, 2024 (Exhibit 2), the sole member of the commission published a “Revised Police Sergeants Promotional List” with all five testers allegedly achieving passing scores. There was no commission meeting and no commission vote as required. With only one commissioner, it should have been impossible to publish a revised list.

From the Counts:

• Mandamus against the village to only promote to sergeant those who are lawfully on the eligibility list. The highest scoring officer was not promoted and is seeking promotion with backpay, and for the village to vote on those that were promoted from the November 2023 list.
• Violation of the Illinois Whistleblower Act for retaliation against Plaintiff for reporting this incident to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board.