“Somewhere nobody would find her”

Content warning: mentions of domestic abuse, police violence

A Chicago Police officer with an extraordinarily lengthy history of misconduct—including a vicious jail beating captured on video—was recently handed the minimum disciplinary recommendation as a result of a domestic violence incident dating back to 2018. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) investigation into the allegations took five years to complete.

Officer Enrique Delgado Fernandez has been on the force nearly 12 years. Since 2016, he has been the subject of over one hundred misconduct allegations, and the city has paid approximately $625,000 to resolve lawsuits naming Fernandez.

Investigators found credible allegations that Fernandez “physically and emotionally abused [his ex-girlfriend].” 

“This physical abuse included pushing her to control her movement and emotionally abusing in the form of harassment and stalking,” investigators added.

COPA sustained a dozen specific abuse allegations made by the victim. In her statement, she described how Officer Fernandez threatened her life, stole her phone several times, threatened to send intimate images to her bosses at work, physically blocked and intimidated her, and continued to contact her via both email and text message against her wishes on multiple occasions between 2018 and 2019.

The most significant allegation includes an occasion where Officer Fernandez coerced her into his police vehicle in September 2018. He physically blocked her from escaping, threatened to “cause a scene,” and hopped on the highway toward Wisconsin.

When she asked him where he was driving her, he told her, “somewhere nobody would find her.”

He then kept her captive in the car with him for nearly two hours, causing her to miss her shift at work. Her boss began calling her cell phone, and Fernandez gave it back to her, instructing her to answer and respond that she was okay. Instead, she said she was being held against her will.

“He’s taking me out of the city, and I don’t know where he’s taking me,” she told her boss.

The victim filed her initial complaint in February 2019, after Officer Fernandez harassed and stalked her on multiple occasions, leading her to briefly move in with her mother due to safety concerns. 

During this timeframe, he allegedly contacted the victim’s sister despite her never providing him her sister’s information. She reported seeing Fernandez outside her residence, sitting in her building lobby or parking out front. 

By March 2019, she had obtained an order of protection against Fernandez. He failed to report the order to CPD, as required. According to COPA, the order was then vacated after Fernandez was ordered to pay the victim for the loss of her phone, and both parties agreed to no further contact.

“Domestic violence, in all forms, is a serious offense,” wrote COPA in their final summary report about the allegations. “Police officers committing domestic violence seriously undermines public trust in the Department. This level of behavior warrants significant consequences. Thus, COPA recommends a 180-day suspension up to 365 days.”

Investigators reported that Fernandez gave conflicting accounts of the incidents “throughout his entire statement at COPA,” finding the victim more credible than Fernandez. Records also show that during the investigation, Fernandez took medical leave several times—totaling nearly a year off work.

“There are multiple factors that can affect the length of a Special Victims investigation, including pending litigation, victim cooperation and officer availability,” COPA director for News Affairs Jennifer Rottner said in a statement.

Superintendent Snelling’s concurrence with the report’s findings directed Fernandez to serve only the minimum recommended suspension of 180 days. CPD did not respond to a request for comment on the decision. 

Fernandez was also recently accused of sexual misconduct at a traffic stop in June 2022. 

The victim claims that while she was handcuffed and detained for four hours at the Ninth District station, Fernandez made inappropriate comments toward her. According to the complaint, he offered to be her “side boyfriend,” and asked her to cook for him. The victim also stated the officer put his phone number in her phone. 

While COPA’s report is pending final review and their disciplinary recommendation has not been issued yet, records reflect that some of the allegations have been preliminarily sustained by investigators.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Fernandez has been named in a number of lawsuits filed against the city as a result of his conduct on duty over the years, according to public records. In total, Jinx Press estimates the settlements paid out by the city to victims in those suits amounts to at least $625,000. 

He was one of seventeen officers who took part in a highly publicized wrongful raid on a child’s birthday party. Named officers in that case, all believed to be members of the Area South Gang Enforcement Unit, were accused of terrorizing 4-year old Terrence Jackson (TJ) and his family on February 10, 2019. They handcuffed adults present at the party, pointed weapons at children, and maliciously damaged birthday presents and possessions. 

According to victims (officers involved did not activate their body-worn cameras), CPD “broke drawers and other furniture,” “flipped mattresses over,” and broke a television during the wrongful raid. 

They “spitefully poured” vodka and hydrogen peroxide over clothing, mattresses and birthday gifts for TJ and his aunt who shares the same birthday. They also smashed the four-year old’s birthday cake on the floor before laughing their way out of the apartment. 

TJ and his then seven-year old sister Samari suffered significant symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the incident, including nightmares. The city settled damages with the family to the tune of $350,000.

One of Fernandez’s frequent colleagues, Officer Jerald Williams, obtained the search warrant for the raid—but it was for an alleged gang member and drug dealer who had not lived at that address in five years. Court documents allege that Williams failed to verify the current residence of the intended target of the raid with a simple address search using tools at CPD’s disposal. 

The 2019 birthday raid isn’t the only case both Fernandez and Williams are named in, however. 

Three months later, on May 18, 2019, both officers were captured together brutally beating Damien Stewart in a holding cell. Officer Fernandez served a ten day suspension for the excessive force complaint.

The video itself was brought to light in January 2023. Williams, who moonlights as an MMA fighter by the name of “Bacon and Eggs,” can be seen holding Damien Stewart while Fernandez punches him repeatedly in the head, delivering nearly two dozen blows. The city paid a $75,000 settlement in this case.

Notably, the city also paid out $850,000 to another victim Williams body-slammed several months later, in November 2019. A bystander recorded Williams throwing the man, who family says suffers from schizophrenia, to the pavement. The victim was knocked unconscious before an ambulance was called for assistance.

Williams was promoted to Sergeant in December 2022. A recent data analysis by WTTW showed the city has paid nearly $1.4 million to resolve suits he is named in as a result of his conduct on duty.  

Fernandez was working as a beat cop in the Ninth District in late 2023 before he was reassigned to the Asset Forfeiture Section in February 2024.

The documents with COPA’s findings and the Superintendent’s concurrence can be found on COPA’s Case Portal.