Cop who arrested mom on disability in Chicago
CRESTWOOD | Patrols suburb's streets, but does desk duty in city
In Chicago, Forrest "Frosty" Wondolowski sits at a desk during his full-time job with the city, mainly doing paperwork, due to a disability.
In south suburban Crestwood, though, he's a bit more active.
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He's Sgt. Wondolowski, a part-time police officer, who puts the cuffs on alleged culprits, including a mother who briefly left her toddler inside her car in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Prosecutors dropped the charges against south suburban mom Treffly Coyne last week, citing a lack of evidence.
In Chicago, Wondolowski's duties include inspecting city vehicles before and after they're repaired, said Eileen Joyce, spokeswoman for the city's Fleet Management Department. While he's paid $36.89 hourly as a city machinist, a job that entails fixing broken city vehicles, he can't lift anything heavy due to the disability, a shoulder injury from lifting a transmission off a heavy truck in 2004.
Joyce said Wondolowski, 39, reported his second job to the city as a police officer assigned to desk duty.
"If he lied, we will deal with that," she said. "We will investigate."
Crestwood Mayor Robert Stranczek said Monday he wasn't concerned about Wondolowski's ability to patrol Crestwood village streets -- even after the Sun-Times informed him that Wondolowski has been determined as having only about 70 percent of his total capabilities. Wondolowski isn't on disability in Crestwood.
"He's well-respected, we've got no problems at all," the mayor said, adding heavy lifting isn't a regular part of Crestwood police work.
"You're not really lifting," he explained. "It's mostly doing reports and securing scenes."
Crestwood Police Chief Tim Sulikowski declined to comment, and Wondolowski did not return calls.
Wondolowski started with the Crestwood Police in 1998 and later passed a certification test for part-time officers. That test would have required Wondolowski to bench press at least 87 percent of his weight to pass.
Wondolowski filed his first of two disability claims in 2003. He has received more than $81,000 in disability payments, records show.
Wondolowski's name surfaced during the intense public scrutiny of the Dec. 8, 2007, arrest of Coyne. Coyne left her sleeping 2-year-old daughter in her locked car while she walked with three other children to donate change at a nearby Salvation Army kettle.
When they returned to the car, a Crestwood community service officer was there, asking why Phoebe was alone. Wondolowski then arrived and cuffed Coyne after she declined to answer questions until her husband got there.
Wondolowski didn't look disabled to Coyne.
"I was actually really surprised to hear this about Frosty," Coyne said.
Wondolowski's name also surfaced on the city clout list that was introduced at the criminal trial of Mayor Daley's patronage chief Robert Sorich in 2006. Sorich, who was convicted, kept the list to track which people were getting what city jobs -- and the clout behind them.
Wondolowski appears to have requested a promotion in his city job, with the 11th Ward listed as his clout. It's unclear from the list if Wondolowski got what he wanted.
