Shooting that killed CPD officer at Swedish Hospital raises questions about earlier search of suspect

The Chicago Police Department is trying to figure out how a man was able to get a gun into a hospital last month before shooting two of their officers, killing one and critically injuring another, after he was arrested for an earlier armed robbery.

Alphanso Talley, 26, is charged with first-degree murder and multiple other felonies, accused of killing officer John Bartholomew and critically wounding his partner in a shooting on April 25 at Swedish Hospital.

Arrest records detailed officers' "custodial search" of Talley after he was arrested for robbing a Family Dollar store earlier that day in Albany Park, and found blood-stained cash, but no gun.

The report states two officers "observed a bundle of money" with a blood stain in Talley's left jeans pocket and left jacket pocket. The report also detailed blood on Talley's shoes and pants before Talley claimed he was having trouble breathing after swallowing five bags of drugs.

Officer John Bartholomew and his partner came to escort Talley to Swedish Hospital. Two other officers, the ones who arrested Talley, were the ones who signed his arrest report, and were not the officers Talley shot at the hospital.

Prosecutors have said, while at the hospital, Talley was handcuffed to a hospital bed. When one of the officers uncuffed him for a CT scan, he allegedly pulled out the same gun he'd used in the earlier armed robbery, shooting Bartholomew in the head and shooting Bartholomew's partner in the chin before fleeing the hospital using an ID badge he took from a hospital employee.

Bartholomew and his partner were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where Bartholomew was pronounced dead. His partner was listed in critical condition, but his condition has improved in the week since he was shot, and he has been up and alert, and able to respond to questions using body cues.

Chicago Fraternal Order of Police president John Catanzara has offered theories about why the gun Talley allegedly used to shoot the officers didn't turn up during their search.

"Nobody knows what happened with that gun. Nobody knows if it was tucked in a fat fold or it was tucked inside his body," Catanzara said last week.

Former Chicago Police First Deputy Superintendent Anthony Riccio said the search the officers conducted was "very thorough, what the law allows them to do."

"The officers have the right to go through a person's pockets to search their belt, to search their socks, their legs, their shoes, the contents of their shoes; and it ensures two things. It ensures, number one, that they don't have a weapon on them that can later hurt the officers, and it also ensures that they don't have any other contraband," Riccio said.

Riccio explained police officers are not allowed to search a suspect's genital area without probable cause, a judge's approval, and medical supervision.

"You can't search the private parts of anybody who's in your custody without first obtaining a search warrant," Riccio said.

Anytime that a Chicago police officer is critically injured on the job, there's supposed to be an Internal Affairs investigation.

"Just as a matter of routine when something like this happens, there is an investigation that will go on and find out if there was some violation of protocol, which as far as I'm aware of, there hasn't been," Riccio said.

Asked whether any officers involved in Talley's arrest were subject to an internal investigation, the Chicago Police Department said the entire incident is under investigation.

Swedish Hospital has said Talley "was wanded upon arrival" as part of its security protocols.