Chicago Police field training officer David Ross is staring down possible termination after internal files show he took a grueling mounted-patrol assessment while on medical leave for a knee injury described as “unbearable.” Oversight records and police documents also show the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, found Ross used excessive force during a June 27, 2024, arrest of a teenager. Together, those findings have opened multiple disciplinary tracks while police lawyers and department leaders decide what happens next.
How the mounted-unit test drew scrutiny
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Ross completed the mounted-patrol assessment on April 28, 2023, climbing onto a horse, lifting five bales of hay and moving a 1,200-pound dumpster, even though department records show he was on medical leave and prescribed pain medication and physical therapy. When a supervisor later saw his name on the list of officers advancing to the next round of training, the Bureau of Internal Affairs flagged a possible violation of medical-leave rules, sustained five allegations, and recommended dismissal, the paper reports.
What COPA’s report shows
COPA’s Final Summary Report, posted May 7, 2026, says body-worn camera footage captured FTO Ross placing his fist against a handcuffed boy’s neck for about nine seconds while the teen “gasped for air, made choking noises, and said, ‘I can’t breathe.’” The report states that officers left the youth unattended in the back of a squad car, where he tied a seat belt around his neck and later lost consciousness before being pulled from the vehicle. The oversight agency sustained multiple excessive-force and procedural violations and recommended a lengthy suspension, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Discipline, partial concurrence and next steps
COPA recommended a suspension of 180 to 365 days, and the department’s response letter said it would “impose a 180-day suspension for FTO Ross.” The Chicago Police Department partially concurred with many of COPA’s findings while disputing or exonerating others, and it has implemented a six-month suspension in line with that partial concurrence. Police investigators also recommended Ross be fired over the apparent leave-policy violations, but the file is still under review by department lawyers and Superintendent Larry Snelling has not filed formal charges seeking dismissal, according to the department’s partial-concurrence correspondence from Superintendent Larry Snelling.
Pattern and oversight questions
Ross, a nearly 12-year veteran of the department, has been named in more than a dozen complaints, and COPA’s report cites an earlier Bureau of Internal Affairs log from 2023 that sustained multiple medical-roll violations and recommended separation. The city’s inspector general in April urged COPA to reopen the June 2024 arrest case to investigate whether Ross filed a false report, a potentially fireable offense, but COPA declined, saying investigators had already recommended significant discipline. The tangle of internal-affairs findings, oversight recommendations and the department’s partial concurrence leaves the final outcome unresolved.
With COPA’s final report now public and the department’s partial concurrence filed, the next steps include internal administrative review, potential grievance and arbitration proceedings, and a decision on whether Superintendent Snelling will move to terminate Ross. For now, Ross remains relieved of his police powers and reassigned to the department’s alternate-response unit while the various review processes play out. The department was asked for comment; the public record in the case consists of COPA’s report and the department’s written response.
