Judge slaps down Emanuel deposition attempt

A federal judge has slapped down an attempt to force Mayor Rahm Emanuel to sit for a deposition about the so-called “code of silence” in the Chicago Police Department.

Lawyer Dana Kurtz sought Emanuel’s deposition last week. She represents Nicole Tomaskovic, one of three women who filed a lawsuit in 2007 claiming they had been unjustly battered earlier that year by Chicago Police officer William Szura. A jury found in favor of Tomaskovic on one excessive force claim late last year, but the ruling didn’t resolve the case.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis shot down Kurtz’s request Tuesday.

Kurtz sought Emanuel’s deposition to help her client prove Szura’s conduct “was the result of an official policy of the city of Chicago.” She pointed to Emanuel’s speech to the City Council in December about restoring trust in the police department, during which he acknowledged CPD’s “code of silence.”

But city lawyers argued that a ruling in Kurtz’s favor would “essentially force the mayor of the third-largest city in the United States to be a witness in every single” federal case involving similar allegations in Chicago. They pointed out Emanuel didn’t even take office until four years after the incident, and they accused Kurtz of simply trying to “court media attention.”