Officer Resigns After Year of Fighting Termination

The Lake in the Hills Police Commission on Thursday accepted the resignation of a police officer who has been fighting his termination from the department for more than a year.

Officer Lee Lathrop recently sent a letter to James Wales, the police department's director of police and public safety. The letter, dated Sept. 22, 2011, contained only one short sentence, which state Lathrop was resigning from his police officer position “effective immediately.”

The three members of the village's police commission — Chairman Dennis Walters, Travis Wilbert and Elaine Krohn — voted unanimously to accept Lathrop's resignation at a Thursday night meeting. 

Lathrop, 38, was released by in August 2010 after the police commission determined a permanent knee injury prevented him from performing the necessary physical duties of a police officer.

Lathrop injured his knee in 2007 during a work-related tactical training incident, said Village Attorney Carlos Arevalo.

“He was placed on light duty for a time to recover from the injury,” Arevalo said. “But the village does not have a permanent light duty police officer position.”

Lathrop challenged his firing, and with the help of a union attorney from the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, filed a lawsuit in McHenry County Circuit Court to dismiss the village's termination case.

The court determined it needed more information before ruling on the police commission’s decision. The case was sent back to the Lake in the Hills Police Commission for a hearing, Arevalo said.

At the hearing, Lathrop would have had the burden of providing more evidence that he could stay on as an officer. In addition, the Police Pension Board — a village governance separate from the police commission — sent Lathrop to three different doctors who all determined his knee injury was permanent, village officials said.

History of Lathrop Employment

Lathrop started with the in 2001, Wales said.

Lathrop collected his base pay of approximately $74,000 for one year after the accident. By law, two-thirds of those payments were covered by workman's compensation, and the village paid the remaining one-third.

"When an officer is injured in the line of duty, the law states the officer will receive payment for one year," Wales said.

Lathrop applied for a disability pension in July 2009 and has been collecting pension payments since.

The ongoing case prevented the village from replacing Lathrop with a police officer who was able to meet the physical challenges of the job. Now, with budgetary constraints, the village still won't be able to fill Lathrop's post or recall officers who were laid off late last year.  

Because of Lathrop’s resignation, Arevalo told commissioners he will file a motion to dismiss the officer’s civil lawsuit today.

ers who were laid off late last year.  

Because of Lathrop’s resignation, Arevalo told commissioners he will file a motion to dismiss the officer’s civil lawsuit today.