Two Chicago police officers who brawled with restaurant employees following a Cubs game while off-duty in 2019 have completed year-long suspensions imposed under a disciplinary settlement, according to a recently released Civilian Office of Police Accountability report.
COPA’s report details the drunken altercation that unfolded on May 23, 2019, at Dimo’s Pizza, 3463 North Clark Street, after Officers Moises Diaz and Salvador Perez entered the Wrigleyville restaurant following a day of drinking at Wrigley Field and nearby bars.
Investigators said both officers were “extremely intoxicated,” with Diaz testing a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.184 five hours after the incident and Perez registering 0.146 more than four hours after the fight.
According to COPA, the officers became violent after employees repeatedly asked Diaz to close a restroom door he had left open while urinating. Staff members tried to escort him out, and both officers began shoving and striking employees as the confrontation spilled into the restaurant’s front vestibule and out onto Clark Street.
During the altercation, the report said, “Perez displayed his badge … stating he was a Chicago Police Officer, and demanded his pizza from the staff.”
Video footage and witness statements showed Diaz punching an employee in the face without justification, while Perez pushed a bystander, grabbed a woman by the throat, and used his police badge in an attempt to reenter the restaurant after being thrown out, according to the report. COPA found that both officers violated multiple department rules, including engaging in unjustified physical violence, being intoxicated off duty, and abusing their authority.
Diaz told COPA he had no memory of the incident from the time he walked into the restroom until he awoke in the hospital hours later, according to the report.
The watchdog recommended in June 2021 that both men be fired, concluding that their conduct “fell far below the standards of conduct expected of Chicago Police Officers” and “badly damaged the reputation of the department.” Then-CPD Supt. David Brown agreed with the suspension recommendations, but the pair ultimately struck a deal in which they served year-long suspensions instead.
The COPA report was released to the public late last week.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
