Jon Burge’s time with the Chicago Police Department

In his time with the Chicago Police Department, Jon Burge was commended, then condemned, and finally fired.

• 1970: Burge is hired by the Chicago Police Department shortly after serving in the Vietnam War, where he was twice awarded commendations for leaving a bunker to drag wounded comrades away from enemy fire.

• 1972: He stops a woman who was threatening to shoot herself by jamming his thumb into the firing mechanism of her gun.

• 1980: Burge witnesses a camera store robbery and caught up to the men at a red light. Despite being unarmed and off-duty, he ordered them out of the car and held them until a patrol car arrived.

• 1981: Burge is assigned as Commander of Area 2 on the South Side, a post he held until 1986. In 1982, the Chicago Police Board found, he tortured brothers Andrew Wilson, who confessed to killing two Chicago police officers.

• 1991: Burge is suspended from the CPD as the department’s Office of Professional Standards investigates the alleged torture of Andrew Wilson.

• 1992: An analysis by the Office of Professional Standards of 50 complaints by suspects questioned at Burge’s Area 2 found dozens of cases in which Burge or his men were accused of torture including electric shock, suffocation, beatings, burnings on a hot radiator, jabs with a cattle prod and intimidation with weapons and other threats.

• 1993: Burge is fired from the CPD after the police board finds he tortured Wilson. He later moves to a suburb of Tampa Bay, Florida.

• 2008: Burge is arrested in Florida after U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald brings perjury and obstruction of justice charges against him.

• 2010: Burge is convicted and sentenced to 4 ½ years in prison.

• 2011: The CPD pension board rules Burge is allowed to keep his $3,039-a-month pension.