Officers Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria were involved in a 2012 investigation that led to charges against two officers accused of stealing proceeds from drug dealers. However, the department pulled the plug on the investigation before several suspected officers were investigated.
Another officer, 20-year department veteran Janet Hanna has corroborated the harassment after they were assigned to her fugitive apprehension unit. She has testified that her bosses told officers they were to refuse any requests from Spalding and Echeverria for backup, setting up the possibility of a reenactment of a scene in Serpico where whistleblower Frank Serpico — played by Al Pacino — is shot by a dealer after his colleagues refuse to provide support.
Spalding was told that she had better wear a bulletproof vest or she might end up going home “in a casket.”
“It’s no secret that if you go against the code of silence, and you report corruption, it will ruin your career,” Spalding told a local Chicago news station.
