Chicago City Wire

John Garrido III, formerly an officer with the Chicago Police Department’s 16th District, is opposing the mayoral runs of U.S. Rep. Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-IL) and incumbent Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Garrido said Garcia lied and maligned several police officers during the civil unrest of 2020. 

“We will never forget the lies? On June 11, 2020, mayor lightfoot, chief brown, 1st deputy tony riccio and chief fred waller joined congressmen bobby rush to fabricate a lie to make our officers look bad. Chuy wasted no time piling on our Officers,” Garrido III said on Twitter. 

On Facebook, Garrido said Garcia "was quick to jump on the bus the officers were thrown under." Further describing the situation at the time, he explained “mayor lightfoot, chief brown, 1st deputy tony riccio and chief of patrol fred waller painted a picture that would make the public believe officers were lounging and eating popcorn while the city was up for grabs." 

Anthony Riccio himself said, ".at the same time these 13 officers were poppin' popcorn, taken' a nap, relaxing, inside this office, I was standing shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other officers, on State Street as we got pelted with rocks from rioters." (go to 27:53 in the video below to hear one of many lies),” Garrido wrote.

Garrido continued in his post. 

“THE PROBLEM IS, THAT ALONG WITH EVERYTHING ELSE AT THAT PRESS CONFERENCE, WAS A BLATANT LIE,” he said. “The investigation revealed the following: The mayor and her team of liars presented their case against the officers publicly as if this happened during the civil unrest. When in fact the time stamp on the video was this happened around 1 am on Monday morning. All of the civil unrest started on Friday and was pretty much done by late Sunday evening. These officers worked all weekend and at the time of the video were already passing the 12 hr mark for that day; 5 or 6 hours in that location. There were moved around several times throughout the day to deal with hotspots. That Sunday evening around 8 pm, they were moved to the location near Bobby Rush's office. They were dropped off in the parking lot with no food, no water, no access to restrooms; as was common throughout that weekend for many officers around the city.”

“As supervisors, we were told to rest the officers as much as we could as we didn't know when they would be activated and back on their feet again dealing with protestors,” Garrido added. “Many were left with busses to use for resting. These officers were left with nothing. It's still unclear how they gained access to the congressman's office, but it was determined there was no forced entry. So it was either left unlocked (doubt it as this was the end of the weekend of chaos) or someone unlocked it for them to use. Common practice when you have a platoon of officers is you rest a portion of your team while the rest stand watch. That was the case with this team. Officers were rotated in and out while the rest of the team stood watch outside. When you are resting your officers, they are allowed to sleep; especially under the circumstances that existed that weekend; they were exhausted."

The former lieutenant argued that "When you are resting your officers, they are allowed to sleep; especially under the circumstances that existed that weekend; they were exhausted.” And while “It was never revealed how they got access but the supervisors on scene were under the impression they had permission to use the congressman's office to rest their officers in shifts.” Lightfoot, according to Garrido, "used the opportunity to throw the officers under the bus and paint them as lazy and hiding from the fight," despite the fact that an investigation hasn't been initiated yet. 

A press conference was held in June 2020 in which Lightfoot showed images of police officers holding out during riots in the office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL). "These individuals did indeed abandon their responsibilities and their obligation and their oath to serve and protect," Mayor Lightfoot said. "We should all be disgusted.” The accompanying video showed the police officers resting in Rush’s office located at 54th Street and Wentworth Avenue. Rush reported the office was vandalized during the looting but saw that the office had been used as a makeshift headquarters for officers during the looting.

Garrido said, "None of that was true and every single person in that press conference lied about it,” reiterating Lightfoot “was quick to throw the officers under the bus to distract from her failed policies.” He also warned the public about “Garcia who was quick to jump on that bus to make the Officers look bad.” It was all a false narrative “about our Chicago Police Officers who put their lives on the line that weekend and worked their tails off but were painted as cowards.” Superintendent David Brown, 1st Deputy Superintendent Anthony Riccio, and Chief of Patrol Fred Waller are the “supervisors who, Garrido said, "stepped up to help the mayor peddle her lies."

Garrido retired as a lieutenant after 32 years of service in 2022 where he was lauded. “He’s a true leader and genuinely cares about the officers,” district captain Mike Barz said, according to Nadig Newspaper. “In the 16th District, no officer has done more than John Garrido. He’s always representing us in a positive light. … This is a big loss for the 16th District.” Garrido has run twice for alderman, narrowly losing each contest. His father was also a CPD officer. He and his wife Anna run the Garrido Stray Rescue Foundation.