Did police give Fire Department’s No. 3 man favorable treatment?

The Chicago Police Department struggled Friday to explain why the third-highest ranking member of the Chicago Fire Department was neither tested for alcohol in his system nor charged with drunken driving after crashing his city-owned SUV this week near Lake Shore Drive in Lincoln Park.

The Chicago Fire Department has concluded that John McNicholas, who ran the Fire Department’s Bureau of Operations, was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.

But the Breathalyzer test was administered hours after the crash happened, at Fire Department headquarters at 35th and State, by the Fire Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.

Chicago Police officers were on the scene of the accident on LaSalle Drive just off Lake Shore Drive for up to two hours but never administered a field sobriety test or Breathalyzer test, sources said. Four squad cars were dispatched to the scene and were there from 30 minutes to two hours.

The failure to administer those tests raises questions about whether McNicholas was given preferential treatment by police and comes at a time when the Chicago Police Department is working to restore its battered image and trust with the public.

Unlike Illinois State Police, Chicago Police officers do not carry breathalyzers in their squad cars. If a Breathalyzer is administered, it has to be done at the district station. That was not done in McNicholas’ case.

Both tests were important, but there are two different standards.

The Fire Department has as close to a zero-tolerance policy as it can get. Any department member whose blood-alcohol level exceeds .02 — which is possible after just one or two cocktails — is considered “under the influence” of alcohol.

That’s why McNicholas, who resigned as deputy commissioner Wednesday, agreed to a “full separation” from the Chicago Fire Department after taking the Breathalyzer test that is mandatory after all accidents involving Fire Department vehicles.

The state standard for charging a motorist with DUI is .08. Since police officers on the scene never tested McNicholas for that standard, he is not expected to be charged with DUI.

The decision by police officers on the scene not to test McNicholas raised questions about whether the Fire Department’s No. 3 man was given a pass that would not have been afforded to a motorist without clout.

It comes at a time when the newly-appointed Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is struggling to regain public trust shattered by the video played around the world of white Police Officer Jason Van Dyke pumping 16 rounds into the body of black teenager Laquan McDonald.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has acknowledged that there is a code of silence in the Police Department as evidenced by the fact that some of Van Dyke’s fellow officers tailored their stories to match his. They claimed McDonald was aggressively moving toward Van Dyke with a knife in his hand when he was actually walking away or already on the ground.

Now, the question is whether that code of silence in the Police Department extended to the Fire Department.

On Friday, Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi insisted that the police investigation of the accident involving McNicholas was “still open” and that police were “conferring with prosecutors” about possible charges. So far, McNicholas has been ticketed only for negligent driving.

Guglielmi would not confirm that police officers who were on the scene of the accident for two hours failed to administer tests to McNicholas — much less explain why.

If officers gave McNicholas a pass, “I can assure you that, if that is the case, they’ll be in trouble with Johnson. Johnson won’t tolerate that.”

The accident that sent City Hall scrambling into an all too familiar damage-control mode occurred at around 12:50 a.m. Wednesday.

McNicholas was driving his Chicago Fire Department SUV west on La Salle Drive just off Lake Shore when another vehicle cut him off, police said. The SUV swerved to avoid a collision, went over a curb and struck a utility pole. No one was hurt, but the vehicle was heavily damaged.

Instead of calling 911 and having the conversation recorded, sources said McNicholas called a “black phone” at the 911 center that is not recorded.

The call taker noticed immediately that the deputy commissioner sounded as if he had been drinking and followed protocol by dispatching a battalion chief and deputy district chief along with police officers, sources said.

McNicholas was well known to the call takers. His father once served as Fire Alarm office supervisor.

“There were enough police officers on the scene. Why didn’t they test him? If it had been you or me, police would have given us a Breathalyzer and charged us with DUI. Instead, they handled it internally. That doesn’t make any sense,” said a source familiar with the investigation.

“It sure looks like he got a free pass because he was the No. 3 guy in the Fire Department.”

McNicholas could not be reached for comment Friday.

As for its part of the investigation, the Chicago Fire Department appears to have handled the investigation by the book.

McNicholas did not return to his career service rank of battalion chief. Nor was he eligible for the “last-chance” policy included in the firefighters’ contract that allows members with drug or alcohol problems to keep their jobs if they submit to and pass random drug and alcohol testing over a one-year period.