During a break in hearings that could cost him his job, William Tucker recalled his best day as a Park Forest police officer.
It was probably the day, he said, “when I answered a call about a 1-year-old child not breathing.”
Tucker, now 42, had been an officer for less than two years when he arrived at the scene of a near-tragedy he might never forget.
“The father was in the front yard, the baby in his arms,” Tucker recalled. “(The baby’s) lips had turned blue. I took the child. I was able to give him artificial respiration.”
Tucker spoke only slightly above a whisper as he recounted the experience while waiting in a hallway for the hearing to resume. His son, Andrew, 9, interrupted the story, trying to persuade his father to buy a can of pop.
“This guy,” Tucker said, looking at the youngest of his two children, “was about the same age at the time. The bottom line: The baby was OK.”
Tucker was at the Park Forest Village Hall on Thursday with Andrew, his daughter, Adrienne, 14, his wife, Cheryl, and other family members, friends and colleagues for what arguably was one of the Tucker’s worst days as a police officer.
Park Forest Director of Police Robert Maeyama contends Tucker’s hearing impairment makes him a risk to himself and others.
Tucker, a nine-year veteran who uses two behind-the-ear hearing aids, has declined to quit and take one of two non-police positions with the village. He has been on involuntary medical leave since April.
Why not take another job with the village?
The way Tucker described it, police work is more a calling than a job.
“You’re constantly learning to deal with people,” he said. “You have to be good with communicating with others and a lot of different people with different ideas of how things should be done. It affects every part of your life.”
Tucker’s medical leave has run out, leaving Maeyama, a veteran officer, with the choice of reinstating Tucker or firing him.
Last Wednesday marked the opening of an administrative hearing convened by the village’s three-member police commission, a formal process that could end with Tucker’s separation from the force.
During the first, four-hour session, the Police Department’s attorney, Patrick A. Lucansky, questioned many witnesses, including Tucker. On Thursday, Lucansky introduced expert witness Dr. Arthur Curtis before turning questioning over to attorney Michael Jurusik.
For about two hours, Jurusik questioned Curtis about the importance of good hearing to police work.
Curtis is an ear, nose and throat specialist who has offices in Chicago who is familiar with police department requirements. He cited the results of hearing tests Tucker underwent from 1988 to 1997. Curtis also pointed to accounts of Tucker’s failure to respond to radio dispatches and, on some occasions, his failure to respond to direct comments by other officers.
Under subsequent questioning by Tucker attorney Michelle Smith, Curtis was unable to compare Tucker’s response rate with those of other officers.
Curtis said Tucker’s hearing limitation might be acceptable in a quieter environment, but it represents a risk to himself and other officers in regular police work, where an officer must be able to identify sounds quickly and accurately.
No hearing was convened on Monday, the Tuckers’ 18th wedding anniversary, but the case resumes Tuesday night with additional witnesses for Maeyama. After that, Tucker’s attorneys will have about two days to convince the police commission he should be retained.
Tucker was born with very limited hearing, a problem that went undetected until kindergarten. Fitted with a hearing aid in his right ear, he continued his education, graduating in 1973 from Bloom High School in Chicago Heights.
He attended Eastern Illinois University, where he met his wife. After graduating, Tucker played Triple A baseball in the Atlanta Braves’ organization, until a torn rotator cuff ended his pitching aspirations, he said.
He returned to Chicago’s south suburbs, taking a job teaching physical education at Bloom Trail High School in Steger.
In 1988, Tucker was hired by the Park Forest Police Department after a local ear, nose and throat specialist deemed his hearing impairment correctable with a hearing aid.
On Thursday, Curtis said that assessment failed to consider the conditions of police work.
Tucker said it has been nearly seven months since he was pulled from active duty. He is prepared to return to work “in any capacity within the Police Department.”
“It’s been such a long time,” he said.
