A former top investigator for the Chicago city office responsible for investigating police misconduct claims has filed suit against the city, claiming he was illegally fired in retaliation for casting light on politically motivated and slanted anti-police investigations under the leadership of Andrea Kersten, the office's chief administrator.
On Sept. 12, Matthew E. Haynam filed a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against the city of Chicago.
In the lawsuit, Haynam said the city should be held responsible for Kersten's decision to fire him from his post as a deputy administrator at the city's Civilian Office of Police Accountability, allegedly out of anger in response to learning that he and other COPA investigators had filed official complaints concerning "self-serving" investigations launched by Kersten to push an anti-police narrative, allegedly regardless of the actual facts.
"Whenever there is a high-profile tragic event involving a Chicago Police Officer, Kersten pushes the increasingly popular narrative that the accused officer(s) engaged in misconduct, regardless of whether facts revealed during the course of an investigation support Kersten’s chosen conclusion," Haynam said in his lawsuit.
"Moreover, Kersten has suppressed from the public how internal quality assurance audits, conducted after a COPA investigation concludes, reveal systemic issues concerning the mischaracterization of evidence, failure to interview key witnesses motivated, in whole or part, by improper political considerations..."
The lawsuit came in the wake of COPA's acrimonious preliminary handling of the investigation into the death of Dexter Reed in a high crime area of the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Reed, who was black, was killed by a Chicago Police tactical response unit after opening fire on officers when they stopped his car on March 21. During the incident, Reed reportedly rolled his car window back up while talking with police, despite repeated commands from officers to keep his window down, while repeatedly saying "Okay, okay, I'm trying" in response to officers' commands.
Reed then reportedly opened fire on officers from within the vehicle, leading officers to return fire, killing him. According to reports, an emptied ammunition magazine was found inside Reed's vehicle.
Despite evidence showing Reed likely fired first and no investigation completed, Kersten and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson moved quickly to fault police for the traffic stop and everything that happened after, including their decision to collectively fire at and kill Reed after he opened fire on them.
In Haynam's lawsuit, he asserted Kersten improperly intervened in the investigation of Reed's death and made public comments about the incident she knew were "unsupported by the actual evidence adduced in the investigatory file," including comments asserting officers had "fabricated" a reason for initiating the traffic stop.
Kersten then "publicly demanded" Chicago Police "immediately relieve the officers involved in the Reed traffic stop of their police powers."
Officers had not yet even been interviewed by COPA at the time Kersten made the statements, the lawsuit asserts.
According to the complaint, the comments caused "already shaky morale within COPA to plummet drastically and triggered open, public hostility between Kersten" and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling.
However, the complaint asserts the handling of the Reed investigation was nothing new at COPA under Kersten.
According to the complaint, Kersten had followed the lead of her predecessor, Sharon Fairley, of allegedly using high profile police incidents to shape and steer investigations to allegedly pre-determined outcomes to further their own political and professional ambitions and turn public opinion against police.
According to the complaint, this anti-police animus was displayed in her actions following the death of Chicago Police Officer Ella French, who was killed in the line of duty.
Kersten, who was up for the top job at COPA at the time, reportedly sought to posthumously suspend French for three days for allegedly failing to activate her body camera when responding to the home of Anjanette Young, whose apartment Chicago Police infamously mistakenly raided in February 2019.
According to the complaint, French had reportedly been recognized as one of the few officers on the scene who "showed Ms. Young 'dignity'" by refusing to activate her body camera to avoid recording Young, who was naked and handcuffed standing in her living room, even after "it was obvious that Ms. Young (was) not the intended target of the warrant."
Even though 20 Chicago City Council members opposed her appointment to serve as COPA's chief administrator, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, reportedly at the urging of Fairley, pushed Kersten's appointment through.
After Kersten secured the post, she allegedly "began to hire and/or promote COPA staff that shared (her) ideology and biases" and would help her allegedly "promulgate a custom and practice of steering investigations in high profile investigations."
"The more fervent a staff member was with promoting narratives being pushed by Kersten, were drawn closer into Kersten's inner-circle (sic)," the complaint asserts.
Haynam asserted this was particularly true for Deputy Administrator Sharday Jackson, a former assistant state's attorney under Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and "Kersten's personal friend." The complaint asserts Kersten had been "Jackson's mentor when they both worked at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office" under Foxx.
According to the complaint, Kersten allegedly made it clear to the COPA team that Jackson was to be regarded as Kersten's "right hand."
Further, the complaint asserts Kersten has allegedly refused to allow COPA investigators to obtain or reference Chicago Police training materials or policies when investigating police misconduct claims.
"The total lack of knowledge and understanding by COPA Investigators about how CPD trained its officers triggered genuine disputes about whether misconduct actually occurred and whether discipline could be properly implemented if nobody genuinely knew whether the officer’s conduct was consistent with their CPD training," Haynam said in his lawsuit.
"... Instead, COPA Investigators substituted their personal judgment for what an officer should do, regardless of whether it was consistent with CPD policy or actual law."
According to the complaint, Kersten allegedly further overreached in 2023, when she and Jackson pushed for and spearheaded an investigation into unfounded rumors that a Chicago Police officer had engaged in some form of sexual misconduct with a minor at a migrant shelter run by the city.
The complaint asserts this was done to attempt to smear police and provide political cover for Mayor Brandon Johnson, who was being criticized for his administration's handling of the sudden arrival of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants.
"Jackson's subsequent handling of the alleged migrant sexual assault became a textbook example for how not to conduct an investigation," Haynam said in his complaint.
According to the complaint, the investigation was conducted "in direct violation of COPA investigatory protocols and best practices" and was shepherded to allegedly shield "high-ranking employees" of the city of Chicago from being interviewed.
According to the complaint, an unnamed COPA investigator filed a complaint with the Office of the Inspector General and the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, "raising concerns about the investigatory integrity of the migrant rumor investigation..."
Shortly after, Haynam said Kersten falsely accused him of attempting to undermine Jackson's investigation and threatened to fire him if he or anyone else filed complaints about "the integrity of COPA investigations" with the Inspector General or the CCPSA.
According to the complaint, Kersten followed through on that threat in August amid continued fallout from her handling of the Dexter Reed investigation.
According to the complaint, Haynam and other investigators again complained to the Inspector General and the CCSPA concerning Kersten's handling of the Reed investigation.
According to the complaint, Kersten allegedly enlisted the help of her former boss, Fairley, who is now a lecturer in law at the University of Chicago Law School, to use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain emails that would expose the identities of those who filed complaints about the Reed investigation.
Within weeks, Kersten allegedly met with Chicago city lawyers and then fired Haynam.
The lawsuit said about 16 COPA staffers "have signed and submitted a letter to the CCPSA, expressing 'no confidence' in Kersten's administration over COPA, citing her lack of objectivity and commitment to providing thorough evidence-based investigations as detrimental to the public's confidence in COPA's ability to meet its statutory obligation to fairly and impartially investigate allegations of officer-involved misconduct."
According to the complaint, this alleged anti-police political bias has "tainted" "scores of investigations in Major Cases" conducted by COPA under Kersten.
The lawsuit notes such "tainted" COPA investigations and reports can be used to further lawsuits against the city and police, and can produce wrong results in other proceedings, including labor arbitrations and administrative hearings, harming police officers' careers.
"The propriety of those proceedings is now cast into doubt, given the unreliable nature of the investigatory reports and findings that are at the heart of those proceedings," the lawsuit asserts.
The family of Dexter Reed, for instance, rushed to court within a month of his death with a lawsuit against the city. That complaint seeks millions of dollars in damages, to be paid by taxpayers, and relies heavily on comments Kersten made in a letter she wrote to Superintendent Snelling following the incident and before COPA had even begun its formal investigation of the incident.
In his lawsuit, Haynam accuses the city and Kersten of violating Illinois' whistleblower protection law and of illegal retaliatory termination.
Haynam is seeking reinstatement to his former position, with back pay and other unspecified damages, plus attorney fees.
He is represented by attorney Devlin J. Schoop, of the firm of Henderson Parks LLC, of Chicago.
In a statement provided to The Cook County Record, Schoop said: "These lawsuits are not about being 'anti' or 'pro' police. That is a false dichotomy.
"They are about finding and then accurately presenting the truth to the public. As alleged in the complaints, these brave whistleblowers were fired for raising concerns about the integrity of COPA investigations. That COPA took this retaliatory action after speaking with the corporation counsel for the city of Chicago is disheartening.
"Historically, Cook County juries expressed zero tolerance for retaliation against COPA Investigators. We are confident that another Cook County jury in the near future will react to these instances of retaliation no differently."
A spokesperson for COPA declined comment, saying the agency cannot comment on pending litigation.
A spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Law said, as of Monday afternoon, the city had not yet been served with Haynam's lawsuit and otherwise declined comment, also citing pending litigation.
Haynam's lawsuit was first reported by CWB Chicago.