Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling has decided Officer Michael Bryant will keep his job over a 2019 stop near Cabrini-Green, recommending a 25-day suspension instead of firing. The call, laid out in newly released internal records, is already reigniting long-running questions about how the department handles use-of-force and honesty cases in its own ranks.
What COPA Found
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, sustained several allegations against Bryant. Investigators concluded that he struck a 17-year-old with a closed fist, pointed his gun at bystanders, tried to smack a bystander's phone, and addressed a Black man as “boy.” COPA also found that Bryant gave false or inaccurate statements during the investigation. The agency cites body-worn camera and surveillance footage to back those findings in a final summary report posted this month, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Why The Superintendent Disagreed
In an April 8, 2024 non-concurrence letter, Snelling agreed that some misconduct occurred, but argued it “was not so egregious as to warrant separation.” He rejected COPA’s push to fire Bryant, instead proposing a 25-day suspension and writing that investigators had not proven Bryant actually punched the teen.
Snelling said Bryant could have reasonably believed the teen was reaching for what he suspected was a gun and questioned whether the record clearly showed a closed-fist punch. He laid out that rationale in his formal response to COPA, as detailed in Superintendent Larry Snelling.
How The Probe Unfolded
The case did not move quickly. COPA initially closed its investigation in late 2022, but the Chicago Police Department asked the agency to reopen it so Bryant could see the video and sit for another interview. COPA reinterviewed him in June 2023, and its final materials were posted in May 2026.
WTTW reported that the process took about five years from the 2019 incident to the final public records, a delay Snelling cited as one factor when deciding discipline, according to WTTW News.
Rule 14 And The Bigger Picture
The case drops straight into a broader debate over how seriously CPD enforces Rule 14, the policy that bars officers from making false reports and allows for firing when they do. A review by the city’s inspector general found structural gaps that have let some officers with sustained Rule 14 violations stay on the job.
The Office of Inspector General has urged the department to improve tracking and to make sustained Rule 14 cases routinely lead to separation, warning that weak policy and sloppy record-keeping can undermine any claim of real accountability, according to the Office of Inspector General.
What’s Next
Bryant can still appeal the 25-day suspension to an arbitrator. For now, he remains assigned to a Chicago Police Department unit that patrols public transit and earns about $115,158 a year, based on city records cited by WTTW News.
Advocates who watch COPA cases say outcomes like this, where sustained findings stop short of firing, tend to keep fueling demands for clearer and more consistent rules on when officers should lose their badges for dishonesty or excessive force.
