Former Elgin
police officer Michael Sullivan, who faces misconduct charges alleging he
planted a cellphone on a robbery suspect, is being sued by the man he initially
arrested in spring 2011.
Cop plants dope in a victims car and filmed himself doing it
Jose
Ares-Torres, 35, of the 700 block of North Salem Drive in Hoffman Estates,
argues his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights were violated and seeks more than
$50,000 in damages, along with attorney fees, according to a lawsuit filed in
Kane County. He is demanding a jury trial.
Torres was
arrested May 27, 2011, and charged with beating up a man in an alley on the
0-99 block of Clock Tower Plaza and stealing his wallet and cellphone. But
prosecutors later dropped all charges, the most serious of which carried a
sentence of up to seven years in prison, on May 2, 2011, after Sullivan
admitted wrongdoing, the suit states.
"While
Torres was incarcerated, Sullivan admitted to his supervisor that he planted
evidence at the crime scene in order to arrest Torres in a bid to better his
(Sullivan's) career as a police officer," read part of the lawsuit.
Torres' attorney
Paul Krentz could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sullivan, 54, of
Hickory Circle in Sycamore, resigned from the force May 3 and faces felony
charges of misconduct and obstruction of justice. He is free on bond and next
due in court July 12. If convicted, he faces anywhere from probation to five
years in prison.
Although
Sullivan was an Elgin police officer at the time, the city of Elgin is not
named as a defendant.
In the suit,
Torres argues he was unable to post $7,500 bond to be released pending trial
and suffered lost wages, humiliation, public ridicule, damage to his reputation
and emotional distress.
Both sides are
due in court Aug. 3.