The Chicago Police Board has decided to dismiss an officer for pulling his gun on a cab driver while off-duty more than five years ago.
Detective John Killackey was convicted in 2010 of aggravated assault and theft of services and sentenced to probation and community service, but he remained on the force.
Former cabbie Karl Clermont said he picked up the off-duty police detective in April 2009 outside an Ontario Street nightclub where Killackey admitted he had been drinking.
Clermont then dropped him at the intersection of Armitage and Damen. As Killackey walked away, Clermont lowered the window and told him, "Hey, you forgot to pay."
Clermont said Killackey told him he didn't owe him anything. When Clermont told him he would call the police, he said the situation escalated.
"He reaches into his right-hand side," Clermont said. "It looks like he is going to his pocket for some money. Instead he pulls out a weapon, points it at me directly and says, 'I don't owe you s---.'"
Eventually Killackey collapsed on the street, allegedly from alcohol, and Clermont called 911.
"I am thinking I am going to die, for eight bucks," Clermont said.
During a police board hearing in June, Killackey pleaded guilty to bringing his gun to a place where he planned to consume alcohol but not guilty to all of the other charges.
The police board reviewed transcripts of the two days of hearings before it decided whether Killackey would keep his job or be booted from the force.
Since the 2009 incident, Clermont has moved on to a new career.
"I am an EMT now," he said. "I don't want to drive a cab. It's too dangerous."
