Chicago police detective John Killackey has been charged with misdemeanor theft and assault for stiffing a cab driver on a fare in April and threatening him with a gun when the driver asked for payment, officials said today.
Killackey, 32, is listed in public records as a police detective who joined the police force in 2000. According to a source, the officer is the son of Jack Killackey, the former commander of the Deering police district. The elder Killackey is currently an official at the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communication.
The driver, Karl Clermont, has said he picked up Killackey on April 23. When they arrived at his destination near Armitage and Damen Avenues, Killackey, who was off-duty at the time, refused to pay his $8 cab fare and pulled a handgun on Clermont, the driver alleged.
Killackey appeared to be intoxicated when Clermont picked him up at about 1:35 a.m. and drove to the Bucktown destination, said George Lutfallah, who first wrote about the case in Chicago Dispatcher, a publication on taxi-related subjects.
When they arrived, Killackey got out of the cab and started to walk away without paying the fare, Luftallah said. Clermont called after him, and he returned to the taxi.
Killackey allegedly brandished a handgun as he told the driver he didn't owe him anything. "Get out of the car and see what happens," the detective said, according to Luftallah.
Clermont called 911, and when officers arrived they found Killackey in a nearby alley; when they saw his identification, his badge and his gun, they learned he was a police officer.
The driver filed a complaint with the Independent Police Review Authority. On Thursday he spoke with prosecutors at the state's attorney's office, Luftallah said.
Killackey was charged Friday, said Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office.
He has also been relieved of police powers and an internal investigation is under way, said Chicago Police News Affairs Lt. Maureen Biggane. Killackey has been put in an administrative role, she said.
IPRA also is conducting an investigation of its own, said agency spokesman Curtis Tarver.
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