State Senate candidate Steve Caramelli has been suspended several times during his 10-year career as an Illinois state trooper, according to police files obtained via an open records request.
Documented infractions include pornography found on his work computer, pulling his weapon on a hospital valet and chasing a fleeing motorcyclist who fatally crashed, according to records released by the Illinois State Police.
Caramelli, a Hanover Township trustee and Democratic committeeman in Tuesday’s primary against Cristina Castro for the 22nd District seat being vacated by Sen. Mike Noland, has been disciplined at least seven times for incidents since 2007, according to state police records.
The 39-year-old Hoffman Estates resident said he was at one point part of the motorcycle enforcement bureau, a “very targeted unit” that focused on DUI, seat belt, speeding, improper lane usage and reckless driving violations.
“When you’re doing 26 stops a day and you’re writing over 50 tickets, you’re going to come across people who are unhappy,” he said. Caramelli said troopers had quotas and “had to produce volume” in the unit.
“He’s worked hard to do the right thing when he’s on patrol,” campaign spokesman Ryan Keith said. Keith also provided a list of commendations Caramelli received as an officer over the years.
Keith said Caramelli took a leave of absence from his current position in the state’s Riverboat Gaming Command to focus on the election.
It’s unclear how common it is for troopers to be suspended. The state agency does not have a system in place to contextualize the number of troopers who have had suspensions or those who have had no suspensions, spokesman Sgt. Mike Link said.
Caramelli received his longest suspension — 10 days — after a fatal Far South Side crash in 2010, according to state police records.
He was taking part in a roadside safety check at the 119th Street exit from southbound Interstate 57 in the West Pullman neighborhood in the early hours of June 26, 2010, according to an April 2011 letter informing Caramelli of disciplinary action.
Caramelli saw a motorcycle driver turn around on the ramp to avoid the checkpoint. He activated his car’s lights and “began to pursue the motorcycle going the wrong direction on Interstate 57,” according to the letter.
The motorcycle exited in the wrong direction on the ramp from 111th Street, the letter states. It was being driven by Antoine Grady, a 22-year-old Dolton man, according to state police officials and Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office records.
“You then pursued the motorcycle for several more blocks before terminating your pursuit,” the letter, signed by then-director Hiram Grau, continues. “After you terminated your pursuit of the motorcycle, the motorcycle driver crashed resulting in a fatality to the driver.”
When asked about the incident this week, Caramelli called it “an unfortunate situation” and said he was “extremely saddened by the whole thing.”
Caramelli’s suspension was based on violations involving unsatisfactory performance, pursuit violation and improper use of audio/video equipment, according to state police records.
“You were unable to reasonably articulate the justification for the pursuit,” the Grau letter to Caramelli states.
State records note Caramelli had ended the chase before the man crashed, and Keith said it happened “much later” after Caramelli ceased the chase.
“After a short pursuit, Steve stopped short and let him go,” said Keith, the candidate’s spokesman.
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Keith said Caramelli “was ultimately cleared in the investigation as to whether he had any fault in the person’s death.”
“He still feels devastated to this day,” Keith said. “He wishes, if he could’ve caught up to the guy, maybe he wouldn’t have wrecked, but he wasn’t able to do that.”
Records show Caramelli received the 10-day suspension as part of the “Misconduct Allegation Settlement Agreement process,” a process in which employees may, under certain circumstances, admit guilt to violating Illinois State Police policy in exchange for a lesser level of discipline.
Just more than a year before that incident, investigators found “adult pornographic images” on Caramelli’s work computer, according to a letter to Caramelli from the Motorcycle Enforcement Bureau chief.
The download dates were not known but were reported in May 2009 after Caramelli’s computer was examined because his unit suspected unauthorized Internet usage, according to state records.
That one-day suspension was also the result of a negotiated settlement process, according to records.
Caramelli said he had been checking his personal email on his work computer when “an inadvertent email popped up.”
He said a virus then took over.
“It popped up several pages of pornographic images as well as pharmaceutical online websites,” Caramelli said.
He said he brought the computer immediately to his supervisor and that it was not working properly.
Caramelli said that if he had been regularly viewing porn on a work computer, he would have been fired.
“The State Police take this extremely seriously,” he said.
Caramelli’s first infraction included in state police records was for a March 2007 incident in which he pointed his gun at a Northwest Community Hospital valet in Arlington Heights.
“Caramelli observed what he thought was a hospital security guard in pursuit of a violator and he stopped them at gun point,” according to the case action report. “He then realized they were two hospital valets and proceeded to yell profanities at them. He threw a key chain belonging to one of the valets breaking it.”
Caramelli received a two-day suspension as a result, records show.
A letter from his district commander chides Caramelli for acting “in an unprofessional and rude manner,” and for damaging the key chain, which records show required a legal release and settlement of claim form for the owner of the damaged key chain.
Caramelli said he was in pursuit when one of them turned with a big silver key chain that he mistook for a weapon.
After he pulled his weapon and the valet dropped the key chain, “I re-holstered and basically scolded him,” Caramelli said.
“It was an incident that was unprofessional and could have been handled differently,” he said.
Caramelli again exercised his misconduct allegation settlement option and received a letter of reprimand after a rudeness complaint during a November 2008 traffic stop on Interstate 39 in Ottawa, records show.
After stopping a woman for speeding, the woman asked to see the radar. Caramelli said she was calling him a liar and that he “didn’t take well to that,” according to records.
He showed the radar to the driver, she asked about the speed and Caramelli ignored her, according to the report.
“You stated to the driver there was no need to attend court because her seeing the radar was an admission of guilt and there was no way she could win in court,” a letter announcing the negotiated disciplinary action states.
The letter notes he “eroded the level of trust placed in your decision making.”
“Your interaction with this motorist is unacceptable,” the letter states.
Caramelli had no video of the traffic stop, records show, but had not reported malfunctioning equipment.
In December 2008, Caramelli received a negotiated one-day suspension for failing to activate his vehicle’s video and audio equipment after he was transferred to the motorcycle enforcement bureau in July 2008, according to records.
He had instead been using his personal audio recording device, according to records.
Caramelli received a two-day suspension after a September 2010 incident in Schaumburg that evoked a rudeness complaint from a man standing by his motorcycle.
“You approached him and in an aggressive nature demanded (he) produce his license,” a notice of disciplinary action letter states. “When (he) asked you the reason for the stop you used coarse, profane language towards him.”
Caramelli’s most recent disciplinary action involved a negotiated one-day suspension after he crashed his squad car and failed to update his response code status while responding to a traffic accident in January 2011, according to records.
Castro said she was not aware of any details regarding Caramelli’s time as a state trooper.
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“I feel it’s inappropriate for me to comment,” said Castro, a Kane County board member and marketing and communications manager. “I’m not familiar with it.”
Keith said Caramelli received several commendations during his career as a trooper, including recognition from the Elgin Police Department for taking part in the escort of a fallen Elgin Marine from O’Hare airport.
Caramelli received a department service ribbon in December 2012 for participating in the May 2012 NATO summit detail, according to Master Sgt. Matthew Boerwinkle, a state police spokesman. He was also recognized in April 2012 for his assistance with the motorcade for the funeral detail of federal Judge William Hibbler, according to Boerwinkle.
Keith also said Caramelli received an award of accommodation in 2014 for participating in a Secret Santa program to provide Christmas gifts to the families of fallen officers, but Boerwinkle said he was unable to confirm that Monday as it was not in Caramelli’s file from the unit where he is currently assigned. Caramelli was also a participant on Team Trooper for the Dragon Boat Race for Literacy from 2008 to 2010, according to Keith.
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