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Chicago OIG finds Fire Department covered for high-ranking supervisor found asleep at wheel

Chicago Inspector General finds Fire Department covered for supervisor asleep at wheel
Chicago Inspector General finds Fire Department covered for supervisor asleep at wheel 00:32

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Fire Department was accused in a new report by the city's Office of the Inspector General's office of covering up for a high-ranking supervisor who was found asleep behind the wheel.

This happened back on May 29, 2022.

According to the Inspector General's office, a fire truck responded to a 911 call and found an assistant deputy chief paramedic unconscious at a traffic light.

The OIG said Fire Department members came to the scene after someone called 911 to report someone asleep at the wheel. A captain-EMT and a firefighter/paramedic woke up the assistant deputy chief paramedic, and the captain-EMT told his subordinates to cancel a call for an ambulance that had been sent to the scene.

The Fire Department members then filed a false report saying no one was found at the scene, the OIG said.

The assistant deputy chief paramedic who fell asleep at the wheel retired during the probe. The Inspector General's office recommended the captain-EMT be fired, but the IG said he was only suspended for six days.

This was one of several investigations documented in the Chicago OIG's Fourth Quarter 2024 report.

The report also included findings that a Department of Finance employee misused their access to city systems to rack up more than $6,500 in unearned compensatory time.

Another investigation found that a police communications operator from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications violated the city's residency rule, fraudulently obtained loans from the Paycheck Protection Program intended to keep small businesses afloat during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and lied to the OIG. A member of the Chicago Police Department was also found to have fraudulently obtained PPP funds and lied to receive a housing voucher before joining the department.

A commissioner from the Public Building Commission was found to have misused their position in an attempt to get employees to engage with a company in which the commissioner had a financial interest. This commissioner also failed to cooperate with the OIG, according to a summary of the report.

Meanwhile, a Department of Streets and Sanitation ward superintendent was found to have tried to sell an illegal machine gun to an undercover law enforcement agent while on city time, and while using a city vehicle.

"There is no place in the government Chicagoans deserve for such conduct. We will continue to aggressively pursue those who contribute to the deficit of legitimacy at which the City operates, and we will fiercely guard OIG's independence so that we can continue to do so effectively," Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said in a news release.

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