Hardiman Out As CeaseFire Director Following Domestic-Violence Arrest
Updated 06/04/13 - 8:10 a.m.
(CBS) – Tio Hardiman is out as director of the anti-violence group CeaseFire Illinois, following his arrest for domestic violence.
"Mr. Hardiman no longer serves as a representative of CeaseFire, its parent organization Cure Violence, or the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health," Cure Violence said in a statement Wednesday night.
Hardiman has been charged with misdemeanor domestic battery, after allegedly attacking his wife inside their suburban home last week.
His 47-year-old wife suffered bruises, a cut to her neck and a swollen lip Friday morning, prosecutors said.
Hardiman was released on $20,000 bond on Saturday.
He was placed on administrative leave from his position at CeaseFire after his arrest, and his contract will not be renewed after it expires on June 30, according to the parent organization, Cure Violence.
Hardiman has said he is innocent of the charges, and told the Sun-Times his ouster was "a miscalculated decision."
"I brought it back to life," Hardiman said of CeaseFire. "I feel shipwrecked and abandoned."
CeaseFire is working under a $1 million city contract to prevent retaliatory shootings in two high-crime neighborhoods in Chicago. A dozen CeaseFire staff members began working in October in Woodlawn under the one-year contract. Another 12 staffers started in North Lawndale on the West Side.
Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has said those two programs will be judged on their success or failure, not on the allegations against Hardiman.
Meantime, Cure Violence said Jalon Arthur, national director of training and technical assistance at Cure Violence, will step in as interim director of CeaseFire Illinois, effective immediately.
