Fired Suburban Officer to Sue

She's got a hell of a lawsuit against Markham:

• A Markham police officer who found a loaded firearm in a vehicle owned and operated by a convicted murderer, only to be fired when CWBChicago asked the city’s police chief why he ordered the cop to let the convicted felon go, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the chief and the city on Monday morning.

  CWBChicago first reported on the traffic stop and the officer’s firing last week.

  Former Markham probationary police officer Kayla Heller alleges she was terminated after reporting to prosecutors and the Illinois State Police that Police Chief Jack Genius ordered the release of Tyrone Muhammad after she discovered a loaded Smith and Wesson inside his Chrysler 300’s center console, according to a complaint filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

  Heller initially stopped Muhammad on October 8 because his vehicle’s plates were suspended for lack of insurance, according to a report she filed.

Legit stop, and then it all went to shit:

• Chief Genius Moron orders the release of said car and the unattended weapon;
• command staff interrogates her in violation of the Illinois Uniform Peace Officers’ Disciplinary Act;
• command staff interrogated her over any calls she might have made regarding the stop to ISP and the States Attorneys Office;
• demotes the sergeant she might have talked to....which is what you want the new officers to do (the sergeant probably has a good lawsuit, too);
• and then, "she was allegedly asked to return to the police station to sign a backdated resignation memo."

And, insult to injury, they cheated her out of accrued vacation and sick time to the tune of $10K, adding to the list of State Law violations.

Hopefully, she gets a few million and never has to be the police.