Cop Who Posted Controversial 'I Stand For The Anthem' Photo Has History Of Department Suspensions

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Sep 28, 2017 8:26PM

The Chicago cop who garnered attention after posting a controversial Facebook photo earlier this week with an "I stand for the anthem" sign has been suspended by the police department several times for various violations and misconduct.

The post shows the officer standing uniform in front of his police car and holding the American flag with a sign that says "I stand for the anthem, I love the American flag, I support my President and the 2nd Amendment." The officer, who appears to be named John Catanzara according to Facebook, captioned the photo "2 sides to a story," Tuesday afternoon. The post has since been shared hundreds of times, including by the Facebook group Chicago Code Blue, which voiced support for the officer. The original post has since been deleted.

The photo was posted just days after two other Chicago cops were reprimanded for posing kneeling in a photo in solidarity with NFL players who have decided to kneel during the National Anthem. The police department has not released the names of those officers. In a response to Chicagoist, reps from Chicago Police News Affairs said the officer in the photo would also be reprimanded for violating the department policy against making political statements while in uniform, just like the original two officers were.

As ProPublica Illinois pointed out on Twitter Wednesday, after the photo of Catanzara, went viral, public records of police department data show that Catanzara has been suspended for misconduct seven times since he became a Chicago police officer in 1995—for a total of 111 days. As ProPublica noted, "Of tens of thousands of CPD officers who began working in 1995 or later, only 7 have been suspended 7 times or more. Catanzara is one."

In one from 2012, detailed in these police board documents, The city's Independent Police Review Authority, which used to oversee cases of police misconduct, recommended Catanzara be fired because he was reportedly worked a second job as a security person at Topo Gigio Restaurant while he was supposed to be on medical leave for a back-related injury he had sustained while on duty. IPRA recommended he be terminated but the police board ruled for him to be suspended instead.

Catanzara has also received 22 honors and commendations from the police department, as ProPublica pointed out in their reporting.

Chicagoist has reached out to Catanzara but has not heard back as of Tuesday afternoon. Catanzara told DNAinfo that he has lost his off-duty job as a security guard and been reassigned from his post at Hubbard High School due to the photo, which went viral Tuesday. He is also being harassed online, he said.

"The backlash is one thing but removing me from the school has definitely been the toughest part of this so far," he told DNAinfo.

DNAinfo noted that Catanzara has received support online for his stance, but also criticism, harassment, and calls for him to be fired.

Catanzara commented on Facebook that he did not see what was political about his photo:

"What is political about my pic?" He wrote. "it's patriotic. There is a difference but clearly not everyone understands that."