Watchdog chief pushes for dismissal of Chicago cop acquitted in girlfriend's murder
Days after a Cook County jury acquitted a Chicago cop in the fatal shooting of his child’s mother, the city’s police oversight chief made it clear that she wants him fired despite the verdict.
Andrea Kersten, chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, told Police Supt. Larry Snelling on May 21 that Officer Pierre Tyler should face dismissal for firing at girlfriend Andris Wofford “without justification” in December 2021.
Kersten also noted that Tyler assaulted Wofford in March 2021, just over a week after Wofford gave birth to their child.
Tyler was relieved of his police powers when he was arrested in the shooting. After last month’s verdict, Kersten voiced concern that those powers would be restored.
“The resolution of Officer Tyler’s criminal case and his release from custody raise the concern that he may attempt to resume employment as a CPD officer,” Kersten wrote Snelling.
Tyler’s lawyer, Tim Grace, declined to comment. A CPD spokesperson said Tyler is currently on “a leave of absence.”
Hours before Tyler was acquitted on May 17, he testified that he and Wofford had a heated argument fueled by her belief that he had married the mother of his other children.
Tyler told jurors that Wofford picked up a gun he left on a table and pointed it at him. at which point he tried to shove the gun away and it went off. Tyler didn’t call for help or tell anyone about the shooting, and the gun was never found.
The jury found him not guilty on four counts of murder and he was released from the Cook County Jail, where he had been held since his arrest.
Kersten told Snelling that COPA has sustained allegations that Tyler failed to report the shooting, failed to secure a firearm and missed work without permission. Kersten noted that CPD concurred with COPA’s investigatory findings but “requested that COPA redraft portions of the analysis.”
COPA’s revised report is under review, she added.
COPA had also investigated a confrontation between Tyler and Wofford months before the shooting. The fight started at the couple’s shared home after Wofford discovered text messages Tyler had received from the mother of another child, COPA said in a report.
During a subsequent phone call, Wofford told the other woman that she had recently given birth, COPA said. The other woman then told Wofford that she was expecting a second child with Tyler in July 2021.
The conflict grew physical when Wofford followed Tyler to his grandmother’s home and tried to swing at him, according to COPA. Tyler then body-slammed Wofford in the front yard, pushed her face down into the grass and pressed his weight on top of her, the agency found.
COPA also concluded that Tyler snatched Wofford’s phone from her, called her a profane name and improperly viewed police POD camera footage taken around the time of the altercation. COPA’s report, dated Feb. 28, 2023, formally called for his dismissal.
The following month, CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs asked state officials to decertify Tyler as a law enforcement officer, Kersten said in the letter to Snelling. Records show that hasn’t happened.
Still, Kersten insisted that "Tyler’s acquittal of criminal charges in no way prevents CPD from continuing to implement disciplinary actions” in the pending cases.
“Given the seriousness of the misconduct allegations against Officer Tyler, as well as the heavy penalty twice recommended, COPA requests that CPD continue the previously imposed duty restrictions until all disciplinary matters against Officer Tyler are fully resolved.”