Elgin Police Officer On Leave Pending Investigation Into Facebook Posts
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An attorney says an Elgin police officer disciplined over something he posted on Facebook might file a lawsuit against the city.
The officer's posting said police in Ferguson, Missouri, "did society a favor" by killing unarmed teenager Michael Brown last month.
The officer has been taken off duty, with pay, as the city investigates if he violated the department's social media policy. His lawyer, Tim O'Neil, says the city of Elgin violated the officer's First Amendment right to free speech.
O'Neil accuses Elgin of "hacking" into the officer's Facebook page.
"His Facebook account did not identify himself as city of Elgin employee or as a police officer," O'Neil said. "The person who found it had to hack into it by going through someone else's site that was friends with him."
O'Neil says Elgin officials broke the law by giving to the media all the information about their on-going internal investigation into the officer.
He says the city of Elgin brought "discredit" on itself by releasing the information, that the officer did not discredit the city.
"I don't see anywhere in the constitution where you give up your rights by virtue of your employment; especially if you're not commenting on your employment or your employer," he said.
O'Neil says the officer is scheduled to be questioned by investigators on Monday. He says he may seek to postpone that until Elgin officials give to him what was given to the media through a Freedom of Information Act request.