Chicago police officer faces reprimand for wearing extremist group logo during racial justice protest
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago police officer who was photographed wearing a mask with an anti-government extremist group logo will face only a reprimand.
In 2023, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg urged the Chicago Police Department to reopen its investigation into Officer Kyle Mingari, who was seen wearing a mask bearing the logo of the Three Percenters militia group in June 2020, while patrolling racial justice protests downtown.
The Anti-Defamation League has said the Three Percenters' logo "has become very popular among anti-government extremists."
The term "three percenters" refers to what the Anti-Defamation League said was a mistaken believe that only three percent of American colonists fought the British during the Revolutionary War, and members of the group believe they are modern-day revolutionaries fighting against a tyrannical American government.
The Chicago Police Department closed its initial investigation into Mingari without finding any violations of department rules, but Witzburg pushed them to reopen the probe, citing rules prohibiting officers from wearing unauthorized insignias, and against bringing discredit on the department or undercutting its efforts to accomplish its goals.
After CPD Internal Affairs reopened the investigation into Mingari, he told investigators he believed the Three Percenters symbol was only a "pro-military and pro-police" emblem, and that he bought it in 2014 or 2015 "as a patriotic item" to wear while riding his motorcycle.
Internal Affairs recommended Mingari be reprimanded for violating the department's uniform policy, but did not find he'd either brought discredit on the department or failed to promote the department's efforts to implement its policy or accomplish its goals.
Mingari has faced at least 24 misconduct allegations since he first became a CPD officer in 2006, including 21 use of force reports, according to data gathered by the Invisible Institute, which tracks allegations of Chicago Police misconduct. Only one of those allegations was "sustained," meaning he was found responsible: a 2011 incident in which Mingari and two other officers allegedly strip-searched someone in public without justification during a traffic stop.
Mingari also has been named in several misconduct lawsuits, costing the city more than $400,000 in damages combined, according to court records reviewed by CBS News Chicago. In one case, in 2009, Mingari fired his gun at a driver in the Austin neighborhood, puncturing the driver's lung. A jury found Mingari used excessive force and awarded the victim $279,000. It's unclear whether CPD disciplined Mingari for that shooting.