Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(312) 744-3334
STATEMENT
“The truth is I’ve always wanted to be a Chicago police officer. I’ve always
wanted to play a role in helping people be safe. But you live your whole life
and never expect something like this to happen,” Smith said late Monday
afternoon. “I was doing my job. I did what any police officer would do.”
Smith, 38, has been a Chicago police officer for 12 years and a member of
Mayor Daley’s security detail for seven years.
Smith had been assigned to guard Daley’s Grand Beach home over the
weekend, while the mayor and his wife, Maggie, were there with their three
grandchildren.
Smith said he had been informed late Sunday night that three prisoners from
the nearby Indiana State Prison had escaped and might be in the vicinity.
Smith was sitting in his car about a block away from the mayor’s house just
after 5 a.m. when he looked in the rearview mirror and noticed two men who
looked disoriented and disheveled, walking toward Lake Michigan.
“I asked him to identify the other guy who got away, but he wouldn’t. In
fact, he said absolutely nothing else. ”
Smith said he told a curious neighbor who was wandering towards him to,
“get back in your house, lock all the doors and call the police,” as he
handcuffed 48-year-old Charles Smith, one of three men discovered missing
from the prison Sunday morning.
“I certainly did not go into work thinking the day would go this way,” said
Smith, who comes from a family of firefighters and is the father of six
children, ranging in age from 3 to 12 years-old.
“All I can say is you just never know. Again, I did what any police officer
would do. I’m glad they got the other guy. But I won’t be able to rest until
they get the other two.”
###