Nov 15, 2007 10:19 pm US/Central
Drew Peterson Granted Bolingbrook Police Pension
5-Member Board Made Decision Thursday Afternoon
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ―
Calling it a difficult decision, a five-member board ruled Thursday to grant former police Sgt. Drew Peterson his almost $6,000-a-month pension, days after he resigned from the Bolingbrook Police Department.
As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, the chief refused to accept Peterson's resignation saying he wants the former sergeant to be part of an internal investigation. Meantime, Peterson will immediately start receiving $6,000 a month for the rest of his life.
"We don't want there to be any appearance of impropriety, and quite frankly on a case like this, I'm sure that we'll be subjected to some type of criticism," said Bolingbrook pension board attorney Richard Reimer.
The Bolingbrook Police Department pension board agreed, Peterson is entitled to his pension. He meets the requirements of being more than 50 years old and having served more than 20 years on the force.
What the board could not take into consideration is the fact police have named Peterson a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Stacy. Authorities have also exhumed the remains of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, saying her drowning appeared to have been staged to look like an accidental death.
"I'm not comfortable, obviously, with everything that has happened, but again, as our attorney has stated, our hands are pretty much tied," said pension board trustee Alyssia Lee. "So even if I abstained, it still would not make a difference in this hearing."
CBS legal analyst Irv Miller says Peterson is innocent until proven guilty and is entitled to his pension.
"If there's a conviction, the pension board can reconsider this pension, and they could say a policeman is a policeman 24/7, and if he committed a crime, if he committed a murder while he was a policeman, even off-duty, that should disqualify him for a pension," Miller said. "But we're nowhere near that point right now."
Miller says the only way Peterson would be denied his pension now is if he's convicted of a felony.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot and Joanie Lum contributed to this report.cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages 
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