Chicago top cop Eddie Johnson to announce retirement soon, report says

Eddie Johnson, the beleaguered Chicago Police superintendent, is reportedly set to announce his retirement this week -- a move that comes just days after Johnson said he was only considering resigning and amid an investigation into an incident in which officers found Johnson asleep in his car at a stop sign.

Johnson is expected to put an end to his 31 years of service in the city’s police department later this week, sources told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday. He's overseen policing in Chicago -- one of America's most crime-ridden cities -- since 2016.

If Johnson steps down by the end of the week, it would be the second high-profile police retirement this week. On Monday, New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill announced he was resigning after three years in order to take a job in the private sector.

Johnson told reporters at a City Hall budget meeting Monday that he only was contemplating retirement – but not that he would actually retire. The 59-year-old has maintained that his career decisions are not linked to a recent incident in which he was caught sleeping in a car at a stop sign.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is set to announce his retirement soon, a report says. (AP)

CHICAGO POLICE SAY 'NO CHARGES OF INTOXICATION' AFTER JOHNSON SPOTTED SLEEPING IN CAR

"I have given 31 years now to this city, and almost four as superintendent," Johnson said Monday, according to the Chicago Tribune. "You know, but I recognize also that at some point it's time to create another chapter in your life. And I will tell you all this: When my family and I went to London for the Bears game, that's the first vacation like that that I've had since I became superintendent."

He added: "And I looked at my family and it made me realize how much of a sacrifice you make for your family when you take on positions like this."

Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently told the Chicago Sun-Times that Johnson -- following the Oct. 17 sleeping incident -- confessed to her that he had “a couple of drinks with dinner” before getting behind the wheel that night.

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“I know what the superintendent told me, which is that he was…changing medication...He’d been out to dinner with some folks. He told me he was driving home," Lightfoot said to the newspaper. "He felt ill and pulled over to the side of the road, which he believed was the prudent thing to do…[Internal Affairs Divison] will sort out the rest.”

Johnson subsequently requested an investigation of himself.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.

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