On December 15, 2009, East Peoria police shot and killed 48-year-old Samuel Craft outside of his apartment in East Peoria, Illinois. The officers were responding to a call from Craft’s neighbor, who informed police that Craft was suicidal. Police allege that at the time they shot him, Craft was holding a sword which he refused to drop.
Around 1:40 a.m. on Saturday, September 18, Chicago police officers shot and killed a 19-year-old civilian named Gordon Lash on the CTA red line. Within hours, the police gave their version of events to the media, stating that Lash had brandished a gun and pointed it at the officers prior to the shooting.
Jackowiak Law Offices, along with attorney Rodney Nordstrom, filed a lawsuit today against Tazewell County, Illinois, on behalf of Everett Lewis. On December 9, 2009, Mr. Lewis was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of trespassing at a gas station and was taken to the Tazewell County jail. Mr. Lewis is a disabled veteran who served six years in the United States military and was honorably discharged.
On July 21, 2010, The Jackowiak Law Office obtained a trial verdict in favor of our client Derrick Johnson, who sued the Chicago Public Schools on behalf of his minor son. Johnson’s son was a 14-year-old high school freshman when he was shoved and put in a headlock by a cafeteria monitor at Harlan Community Academy, a Chicago public high school near 96th and Michigan on Chicago’s south side.
On March 6, 2008, Jerry Gillespie, a union carpenter, was falsely arrested, punched in the face and falsely charged with possession of a controlled substance by Chicago police officers Salvador Prieto and Daniel Gomez. Mr. Gillespie was held in police custody for 20 hours and had to defend himself in a criminal trial. Thankfully, the judge at Gillespie’s criminal trial saw that the police were not being truthful and found Gillespie not guilty.
