Thousands of Police Honor Chicago Officer Slain by Repeat Offender on Pretrial Release

About 2,000 police officers, elected officials and law enforcement personnel gathered Friday for the funeral of Chicago Police Department Officer John Bartholomew. Authorities say Alphanso Talley, 26, killed Bartholomew while free on pretrial release. The shooting happened April 25 at Swedish Hospital on Chicago's North Side. Talley's gunfire also wounded Bartholomew's partner, Officer Nelson Crespo.

Talley faced murder charges for Bartholomew's death. At the time, he was out of jail on pretrial release from an earlier armed robbery case. Court documents show a warrant went out for his arrest on March 11 after two electronic monitor violations in early March.

Judge John Lyke oversaw Talley's cases for at least three years. During a December hearing, Lyke said, "It appears [Talley's] mind is finally developing, and he may be on the path to making better decisions," according to ABC7 News. Records show Talley got an electronic monitor on Dec. 11 but triggered two violations within three days in early March.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling spoke at the funeral. "To the children — your father was a hero. His legacy will live on," Snelling said. "As John is to be laid to rest, the only thing that I would like to see laid to rest alongside John is violence. Those who go out and do harm to others. Those who take and destroy lives."

Bartholomew served 10 years with the department. He leaves behind a wife and three children. His brother James Bartholomew said at the funeral that John had a "heart of gold."

"If you worked with him. If you talked to him, if you laughed with him, if you walked with him. You are feeling what I'm feeling right now. It's as if an angel has left the earth. If you knew him. You knew his heart was full. His heart was pure," James Bartholomew said.

Bartholomew's death drew anger from critics of Illinois' cashless bail law. They blame it for Talley's pretrial freedom.

Illinois Department of Corrections records list Talley's prior convictions: possession and aiding and abetting a stolen motor vehicle, entering prison Oct. 2, 2023; aggravated battery of a peace officer, entering prison Oct. 2, 2023; unlawful use or possession of a firearm by a felon with a prior conviction, entering prison July 19, 2021; and four counts of aggravated robbery while armed with a firearm, all entering prison Nov. 1, 2017.

Talley allegedly shot the officers around 11 a.m. on April 25. Officials took him into custody at the hospital for a previous armed robbery. Prosecutors said he hid a gun under his blanket during a CT scan, then pulled it out and fired.

Talley had allegedly robbed a Family Dollar store and pistol-whipped a female employee, taking her wallet and keys.

He faces charges of murder, attempted murder, aggravated unlawful restraint, armed robbery, aggravated discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated battery of a peace officer, aggravated battery, escape and unlawful use of a weapon.

Former NYPD investigator Paul Mauro told Fox News the SAFE-T Act fuels a national push for de-carceration. "The SAFE-T Act here is geared towards this national movement in America towards de-carceration. We're seeing it everywhere in the big blue cities and at the state level as in Illinois," Mauro said. "And the idea is just that locking bad guys up isn't a good idea, it only creates more and deeper bad guys, and so we shouldn't be doing it. And quite frankly, that calculus essentially admits that innocents are going to be hurt, but that is a price to pay."