A federal judge in Chicago scolded the city's police superintendent for initially defying a court order to turn over the list of officers who have repeated complaints filed against them.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman held Superintendent Jody Weis in contempt last week for refusing to give up the list.
Weis ultimately relented and gave the list to attorneys for a woman who claims an officer beat up her children while arresting them in a playground incident.
During a hearing Monday, the judge hammered at Weis, telling him defying a court order is "absolutely intolerable" and ordered the city to pay attorneys fees for the woman's lawyers.
Attorney G. Flint Taylor says he plans to ask for $100,000.
Weis says his concern was that the list would ultimately be made public and would have officers not doing their jobs out of fear they would end up on it.
--------
Weis told the judge that it was not his intention "to offend the court in any way," but that did little to placate Gettleman, who called the police chief's action's "intolerable" and, according to NBC Chicago's Phil Rogers, compared him to a famously well-intentioned criminal:
Quoting a ruling from another case, Gettleman declared, "Robin Hood may have been a noble criminal, but he was still a criminal."
Weis explained his rationale after his Monday hearing:
Watch a CLTV report on the battle over the reported officers list: