2018 IL App (1st) 173084 No. 1-17-3084 Opinion filed September 28, 2018 Second Division _____________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ ) Appeal from the VESSELIN APOSTOLOV, ) Circuit Court of ) Cook County. Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) v. ) No. 17 CH 2200 ) EDDIE T. JOHNSON, Superintendent of the Police of the ) City of Chicago, and THE CITY OF CHICAGO, ) Honorable ) Anna Helen Demacopoulos, Defendants-Appellees. ) Judge, presiding. JUSTICE HYMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Mason and Justice Pucinski concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION ¶1 The Chicago Police Department’s standards deem ineligible an applicant for the position of police officer who “engaged in criminal conduct.” At issue is whether bad decisions, some 20 years ago when plaintiff, Vesselin Apostolov, was 14-years-old, should cost him an opportunity of ever becoming a Chicago police officer, despite an exemplary record since then. ¶2 Although the Human Resources Board of the City of Chicago (Board) reinstated Apostolov to the eligibility list, Eddie Johnson, the Superintendent of the Police of the City of No. 1-17-3084 Chicago (Superintendent), and the City of Chicago filed a petition for common law writ of certiorari asking the trial court to review the Board’s decision. The trial court reversed, finding the Board’s decision “clearly erroneous.” ¶3 Apostolov appeals, arguing (i) juvenile criminal conduct is not disqualifying under the Chicago Police Department (CPD) standard at issue and (ii) the Board’s decision to reinstate him to the eligibility list was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. We affirm. The CPD standard does not distinguish between juvenile and adult criminal conduct, so the Board’s decision to reinstate Apostolov was clearly erroneous. ¶4 BACKGROUND ¶5 In 2014, Apostolov applied for a position as a probationary police officer with the CPD. In the personal history section of his application, Apostolov admitted that when he was 14 years old, he was adjudicated delinquent after pleading guilty for his involvement in several burglaries and thefts between June and September 1996. Apostolov stated that he and some friends broke into several semitrailers at Champion Recycling and Moran Transportation Company and took some Nerf guns. A few months after that, they entered Pepsi Company property and took five cases of soda, which they left near a fence, but took “points” from the cases. They returned to Pepsi Company twice, once taking fuel keys and tractor keys, and days later broke into several trucks, taking vending machine keys. ¶6 Elk Grove Village police charged Apostolov with two counts of burglary and three counts of theft. According to the police report, this was Apostolov’s first arrest and his parents reported no behavioral problems, but he was referred to juvenile court based on the “numerous offenses and the extent of the damage done.” Apostolov pled guilty, was adjudicated delinquent, ordered to pay $1000 in restitution, and sentenced to 30 hours of public service and one year of -2 No. 1-17-3084 probation. Apostolov claimed that he pled ...
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