North Cook News

Illinois comptroller Susana Mendoza recently leveled harsh criticism at Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Mendoza accused Lightfoot of instructing her appointees on a police pension board to vote against approving a "duty disability" for Mendoza's brother.

The Chicago Police Pension Board voted 4-3 to deny Sgt. Joaquin Mendoza's "duty disability" and instead granted him ordinary disability, a Chicago Sun-Times report said.

“I never thought the city of Chicago would betray our officers like that,” Mendoza said in an interview, quoted by the Sun-Times. “I told her that not only did you not have my brother’s back and any other police officers like him, you stabbed him in the back, and you twisted it into his heart. And you did the same to me.”

Sgt. Mendoza worked for the Chicago Police Department for more than two decades, the Sun-Times reported. His lawyers said he caught COVID-19 while on the job, and the illness sent him to the hospital for more than two months and took away the use of his left arm and kidneys. According to his attorneys, Mendoza has not been able to work since he got sick in November 2020, before vaccines to protect against the virus were available.

If Sgt. Mendoza had been granted a "duty disability," he would have received 75% of his regular salary and free health care, the Sun-Times report said. Under ordinary disability, he will receive half his salary, no health care, and it will be phased out after five years.

Comptroller Mendoza was outraged by the decision and publicly accused Lightfoot of working behind the scenes against Sgt. Mendoza's best interests, the Sun-Times report said.