Troubled Chicago police officer faces firing for brandishing gun during scuffle with Westinghouse student

Chavez Siler wasn’t supposed to have a gun.

The Chicago cop had been stripped of his police powers for pistol-whipping a man and aiming at his head during an arrest.

Still, Siler placed his service weapon on his leg when he went to work security at Westinghouse College Prep on Nov. 16, 2021.

It slipped out as he tussled with a teenager in a hallway. A police investigation found he later pointed the gun at the student and said “I’ll shoot.”

The top cop is now calling for Siler’s firing after criminal charges and a lawsuit were tossed out. However, some key facts remain in dispute.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability notably didn’t sustain an allegation that Siler pointed his firearm at the boy, as the police department had concluded.

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s office asked COPA to reopen the case in October to address the discrepancy, noting that a viral video of the confrontation was “consistent” with the findings in the police department’s criminal investigation.

COPA’s chief administrator, Lakenya White, refused to take another look, though. In December, she told the inspector general’s office that “COPA has already recommended significant discipline.”

Siler was previously able to hang onto his job after former police Supt. David Brown called for his firing in the earlier pistol-whipping case. The Chicago Police Board suspended him for six months instead.

As mitigating evidence, Siler told the board he worked part-time as a security guard at Westinghouse — even as he faced felony charges for the scuffle at the school.

A fight at dismissal

Siler spotted a group of kids using the wrong door to pick up a food delivery after the last bell had rung at Westinghouse, according to a COPA report finalized in late September.

Siler and Sharod Grafton, who was 17 at the time, both claimed the other started making threats. Siler then grabbed Grafton, pushed him against a wall and the two started to tussle, COPA said. At one point, Siler’s gun fell to the ground.

A police investigation found that a video posted to social media showed Siler briefly pointing the gun at Grafton while holding him by the neck and threatening to shoot.

“I wish you would,” Grafton said back, according to the police.

But COPA didn’t sustain allegations that Siler choked Grafton or pointed a gun at him. The agency said those claims couldn’t be verified by the video and argued that the perceived gun-pointing was “likely incidental."

COPA ultimately sustained 10 of the 21 complaints against Siler, many of which related to the altercation. COPA's report also found he had brought his gun to the school after he was “clearly ordered not to carry a firearm or any other weapon.”

As a longtime cop and security guard, COPA said Siler “should have been well-trained and equipped to handle challenging interactions with juveniles in a calm and constructive manner.” Instead, COPA found he “engaged in conduct that escalated the situation.”

The agency called for anywhere from a 365-day suspension up to discharge, and Chicago police Supt. Larry Snelling later said he’d seek Siler’s dismissal.

The inspector general’s office asked COPA to reopen the case in October, but White declined and said her agency’s work wasn’t “materially deficient.”

White argued that reopening the case “risks the viability of COPA’s sustained findings and penalty recommendation,” citing the length of the investigation.

Another investigation

Siler has faced dismissal before.

Back in 2021, then-Supt. Brown sought to have him fired over a struggle with an armed man at a mini-mart in Humboldt Park.

In March 2017, Siler placed a gun to the man’s head and repeatedly struck him with it, according to the police board. He also urged another officer to shock the man’s face with a Taser while he was being kneeled on.

The aggressive tactics only ended when the man was left “motionless on the ground,” according to COPA.

In the end, the board found some of Siler’s actions to be justified and chose not to fire him. All but one member voted to suspend him for six months without pay.

Siler’s attorneys didn’t respond to request for comment.