Cop faces felonies for “inappropriate physical contact” with women while on-duty; Where were his partners?

Corey Deanes was assigned to the 19th District station in Lakeview. | CPD; Google

UPDATE: After publication, a CPD spokesperson said in an email that the department “wouldn’t comment” on what actions Deanes’ partners took “as it speaks to what could be classified as witness information.” Nonetheless, the department also did not say if any of Deanes’ partners on the night of reported incidents were being investigated for failure to report his alleged conduct.
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A 14-year veteran Chicago cop assigned to the 19th (Town Hall) District in Lakeview is facing multiple felony charges after three women accused him of inappropriate physical contact in separate incidents while he was on duty. Now, CWBChicago has reviewed police dispatch records that indicate the accused officer was working with a partner when at least two of the alleged incidents took place. And, so far, CPD is not answering any of our questions about that.

Officer Corey Deanes, 47, was charged yesterday with three felony counts of official misconduct – forbidden act; felony aggravated battery in a public place; and two counts of misdemeanor battery. Judge John Lyke ordered him held in lieu of $200,000 bail. Deanes will be required to go on electronic monitoring if he’s able to post a 10% deposit bond.

Deanes was identified in photo arrays as the offending officer, prosecutors said. But questions remain unanswered about what role Deanes’ partners played—or did not play—in exposing his alleged behavior.

Around 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2017, Deanes pulled over a 23-year-old woman for a traffic violation in the 2500 block of North Clark Street. Prosecutors said Deanes directed the woman to a less busy location and began hugging and touching her back and buttocks, prosecutors said. Deanes told the woman that he would write her a traffic ticket if she did not give him her phone number, according to allegations.

CPD records show that Deanes did not follow standard traffic stop procedures, such as checking the woman’s license number against a database. And police dispatch records show that Deanes did not announce the traffic stop via radio. It is not clear if Deanes was working with a partner on the night in question.

Then, dispatch records show that another woman asked for police assistance after she returned home and found a homeless man sleeping on her porch in the 600 block of West Barry around 3:30 a.m. on July 1, 2018. Deanes accepted the assignment about 12 minutes later with a radio code that officers use to indicate that they are working with a partner.

During a conversation with the 29-year-old woman, Deanes complimented her clothing and grabbed her by the wrist to expose shorts and a tank top that she was wearing under an outer layer, prosecutors said. The woman told Deanes that she was out late working to pay her rent, which prompted Deanes to begin searching her for money, “putting his finger in the front right pocket of her shorts and pulling it open,” according to allegations.

Exactly where Deanes’ partner was during his alleged behavior is not clear. And Chicago police today did not respond to CWBChicago inquiries about the matter.

Finally, around 12:15 a.m. on July 13, 2018, Deanes allegedly rolled up in his squad car as a 22-year-old woman was walking near Clark and Fullerton, about a block from where the first incident had been reported.

Deanes called the woman a “pretty little thing,” then got out of his police vehicle to hug her and ask her out on a date, according to prosecutors.

Police dispatch records indicate that Deanes worked with a partner that night. Again, a CPD spokesman did not respond to our inquiries about what action, if any, Deanes partner took during or after the alleged incident.

Prosecutors said all three women reported their allegations to authorities promptly and private video footage corroborated at least one of the victims’ claims. Deanes was pulled from the 19th District eleven days after the third incident, stripped of his police powers, and assigned to a unit that takes police reports over the phone. The city will suspend Deanes’ pay effective immediately because he is now facing felony charges, the department said.

The 19th District where Deanes worked spans from Fullerton to Lawrence and from the Chicago River to Lake Michigan. Deanes was regularly assigned to the overnight shift on beat 1934, which encompasses the area from Belmont to Diversey and Halsted to Lake Michigan.

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CWBChicago was created in 2013 by five residents of Wrigleyville and Boystown who had grown disheartened with inaccurate information that was being provided at local Community Policing (CAPS) meetings. Our coverage area has expanded since then to cover Lincoln Park, River North, The Loop, Uptown, and other North Side Areas. But our mission remains unchanged: To provide original public safety reporting with better context and greater detail than mainstream media outlets.