Chicago Cops Didn't Want You to See This Photo

Two white police officers holding rifles pose over a black man wearing deer antlers in a shocking photo that city lawyers tried to keep from the public. The photo, which surfaced a few years ago and is believed to have been taken sometime between 1999 and 2003, led to the firing last year of Timothy McDermott, the officer on the right, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. He is appealing the decision in court and a judge rejected a police department request to keep the photo sealed, NBC Chicago reports. The other officer in the photo with the unidentified black man is Jerome Finnigan, who's serving a 12-year sentence for leading a group of rogue officers that carried out robberies and home invasions, the Sun-Times reports.

McDermott's chances of reinstatement don't look good: Asked about the photo, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said "good riddance" to the officer, who was fired by a 5-4 Chicago Police Board decision, the Chicago Tribune reports. "This picture is disgusting," Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said in a statement. "The despicable actions of these two former officers have no place in our police department or in our society." According to court records seen by the Sun-Times, no arrest report involving the unidentified man was filed, and McDermott told investigators that taking part in the photo was a mistake he made as a "young impressionable police officer who was trying to fit in." (Chicago has set up a $5.5 million fund for people tortured by rogue cops known as the "Midnight Crew.")