Elk Grove Village police officer resigns amid disciplinary proceedings

An Elk Grove Village police officer accused of violating the department’s pursuit policy in a chase that ended with a crash has resigned from the force.

Daniel Johnson’s resignation was part of an agreement reached between attorneys for the police department and the Metropolitan Alliance of Police union, which represented the officer.

The deal was announced Tuesday just before a scheduled disciplinary hearing against Johnson in front of the village’s board of fire and police commissioners.

The charges stemmed from a daytime low-speed chase March 12 in and out of a business park near Route 83 and Estes Avenue, police Chief David Dorn said

According to Dorn, Johnson pursued a man in his 40s driving a dirt bike for about two minutes before the bike crashed. The driver of the dirt bike suffered minor injuries, Dorn said.

Johnson violated department policy by engaging in a pursuit for traffic offenses exclusively, Dorn said.

“In order to pursue, it needs to be a forcible felony,” he said. “It needs to be some threat to public safety that’s significant to great bodily harm or death. You can’t just pursue someone for speeding.”

The police board, which last month suspended Johnson for up to 30 days without pay pending a hearing, cut the suspension to nine days Tuesday and declared the matter resolved.

“I think it’s an equitable outcome,” Metropolitan Alliance of Police Keith Karlson said of the agreement Tuesday. “We believe a full, fair discipline was entered by the commission today.”

Johnson was put on paid administrative leave March 22, as police officials investigated the matter.

At an earlier proceedings, village attorney Yvette Heintzelman said Johnson previously violated department policy in 2019, but did not provide details.