On April 27, Daniel Miller, a lieutenant for the Forest Park Police Department, was seen detaining a woman in North Riverside while seemingly off duty, as he was in plain clothes and driving his personal vehicle.
According to the department’s police chief Ken Gross, Miller has been placed on administrative leave while the village investigates the incident.
“We take this matter very seriously,” Gross said in a statement. “We are launching an investigation to examine what happened, and the results will be shared with the public and news media.”
In multiple videos posted to Facebook, Miller is seen near 1st Avenue and 31st Street in North Riverside, pulling a woman out of a car and handcuffing her. His personal vehicle is parked in front of the woman’s car with the license plate “Prez 45,” and he’s wearing a shirt with President Donald Trump’s name on the back and a gun tucked into his pants.
After the incident, the woman, 18-year-old Berwyn resident Breanna Pantoja told ABC7 Chicago that Miller didn’t identify himself as he approached her vehicle with his gun drawn.
“I’m at a red light. This Jeep cuts me off, and he gets out of the car with a gun, screaming, ‘Get out of the car. Get out of the car and turn it off,'” Pantoja told ABC7 Chicago. “At first, I thought I was getting robbed or something because I didn’t know it was a police officer or anything. All I saw was a gun pointed at me.”
Pantoja said that Miller told her she was pulled over because she was involved in a hit-and-run. She said her car spun out on the wet pavement, but didn’t hit anything, and there was no damage to her car or property.
Pantoja told ABC7 Chicago that Miller called North Riverside police, who cleared her of any wrongdoing and let her go. She said she’s considering legal action against Miller.
In 2017, Miller fatally shot Marco Gomez, who was driving a stolen vehicle in Forest Park. Gomez was reportedly stopped at Jackson and Harlem when Miller got out of his patrol car and approached the stolen vehicle with his gun drawn.
According to the Forest Park Police Department, Gomez attempted to perform a U-turn and Miller, fearing for his life, shot his gun, hitting Gomez in the chest. The lawsuit said Gomez did not have any weapons inside the vehicle and was on parole after serving time for robbery and theft.
Gomez’s family sued the village of Forest Park in 2018, alleging that the Forest Park Police Department doesn’t properly train police officers, encourages excessive force and fails to discipline officers involved in unjustified shootings.
In 2021, Gomez’s estate was awarded a nearly $600,000 settlement from the village. In the settlement, the village “continue[s] to deny any and all fault, wrongdoing or liability,” and that the $599,000 was “merely to avoid the expenses and burden of further litigation in this matter.” Gomez’s estate received an additional $100 to maintain a confidentiality agreement.
The village’s police department had settled out of court in previous years, too. In 2018, the village paid $38,000 to Trumell Lee, who accused Officer Nicholas Defors of putting him in a chokehold, causing him to blackout, after he was already handcuffed. The same year, the village paid $54,000 to Tyrone Roney after he accused Officer Scott McClintock of attacking him three years prior and knocking out his teeth.
Clarification, May 1, 2o26: The article has been updated with more information about the 2017 incident and 2018 lawsuit.