Channahon Suffers Defeat In Samantha Harer Lawsuit Ruling

CHANNAHON, IL — A longtime federal judge in Chicago has dealt the village of Channahon a significant legal blow related to allegations of police misconduct surrounding the Feb. 13, 2018, death of Samantha Harer. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman granted Harer's parents' motion seeking to add Channahon Police Detective Andrew McClellan, Channahon Deputy Police Chief Adam Bogart and Channahon Police Chief Shane Casey to their federal lawsuit.

Channahon and its municipal law firm, Mahoney, Silverman & Cross of Joliet, had petitioned the federal judge to reject the pretrial motions filed since January by Brooklyn, N.Y., civil rights lawyer Jennifer Bonjean, but the judge ruled otherwise.

"A court should give leave to amend 'when justice so requires.' Allowing the Harers to amend would not be just if their denial of access claim could not survive a motion to dismiss. Channahon opposes amendment for that reason, arguing that the Harers’ proposed complaint fails to state a claim for denial of access to the courts. The court disagrees. The Harers have stated a claim for denial of access to the courts and are thus given leave to file their second amended complaint," the federal judge decided.

According to court documents, "the claims against the newly-added defendants are not futile. Plaintiffs seek to add three Channahon officers, Shane Casey, Adam Bogart, and Andrew McClellan to Count II of the complaint — that is — Plaintiffs' denial of access to the court claim. As set out in Plaintiffs' complaint, these three defendants led the investigation into Samantha's death. Each of these defendants have engaged in conduct that has hindered the Plaintiffs' ability to obtain adequate, effective and meaningful judicial access."

Bonjean's deprivation of civil rights lawsuit accuses the three Channahon high-ranking police officials of intentionally covering up the Feb. 13, 2018, suspicious death of the 23-year-old WESCOM 911 dispatcher, who had been a former college intern at the Channahon Police Department just a couple years earlier.

According to Bonjean, evidence at the scene showed that Harer was probably murdered by off-duty Crest Hill Police Officer Phil "Felipe" Flores. However, Bonjean said, she suspects the three Channahon police officials of conspiring from the outset to make sure that Officer Flores was not arrested in connection with his estranged girlfriend's violent death.

"Samantha's neighbor heard a commotion coming from Samantha's bedroom. The neighbor described hearing banging on the walls and a woman's voice repeatedly yelling, 'Let me go.' On information and belief, Flores used one of the many firearms in the residence to inflict a single gunshot wound to Samantha’s head during their argument and physical struggle," the lawsuit claims.

Incidentally, Flores was a no-show at Harer's funeral service, even though the two had dated for nearly a year. Flores has also avoided numerous attempts to be interviewed by the Joliet Patch to give his version of events surrounding his girlfriend's death.

Back in March, the Crest Hill Police Department severed ties with Flores after keeping him on paid suspension for 13 months. Flores never worked a day on the job following Harer's death.

Bonjean said she suspects that Flores may have been planning to murder his estranged girlfriend for quite some time and believes he staged the crime scene at her apartment in Channahon, pointing to the March 2004 murder of Kathleen Savio by Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson under similar circumstances.

Here are some of the key conclusions reached by U.S. District Court Judge Gettleman in his eight-page ruling that was issued on Thursday, July 18:

• "Within an hour of the shooting, the Channahon detective in charge of investigating Samantha's death, Andrew McClellan, surveyed the scene ... McClellan implicitly or explicitly directed the technician to make a preliminary finding of suicide. The technician obliged. Without processing any forensic evidence and without talking to Flores or any other witness, the evidence technician concluded that the scene was consistent with a suicide."
• "Within 24 hours of the shooting, McClellan, joined by Channahon Chief of Police Shane Casey, told Samantha's parents, Heather and Kevin Harer, that Samantha died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Casey and McClellan did not tell the Harers that a neighbor had heard a struggle shortly before the shooting or that Flores' sweatshirt had blood splattered on it. They told the Harers that Samantha's hand was positive for gunshot residue and that Flores was negative. Those statements were false. They found no gunshot residue on Samantha's hands. They found gunshot residue on the front and cuffs of Flores' sweatshirt, and on his right hand."
• "Plaintiffs Heather and Kevin Harer's motion for leave to file their proposed second amended complaint is granted. The Harers must file the second amended complaint on or before July 19, 2019. All defendants are directed to respond to the second amended complaint on or before August 9, 2019."

The amended lawsuit adding McClellan, Bogart and Casey to the federal case has been submitted to the federal judge.

Here are a few of the issues outlined by the lawyer for Kevin and Heather Harer:

• "Samantha Harer complained to a friend and colleague that Flores was volatile and abusive, particularly when he was drinking alcohol. During a vacation to Arizona that Samantha took with Flores, she was forced to lock herself in a bathroom because of his volatile and threatening behavior. Samantha had even discussed getting an order of protection against Flores."
• "Defendants did no investigation into Flores' prior history of violence against
  women. On information and belief, defendants made no effort to interview other women who had accused Flores of assault or who had sought an order of protection against him."
• "On information and belief, in and around the time of her death, defendant Flores and Samantha were arguing about Samantha's text conversations with another officer from a neighboring jurisdiction. On information and belief, Defendant Flores was enraged when he discovered these text exchanges on Samantha's phone. Shortly after Samantha's death, the aforementioned officer informed the defendants through his own supervisor that he had pertinent information about Samantha's death, but the defendants made no effort to interview him until three days before they closed the investigation."
• "During the interview, the officer told defendant McClellan that he and Samantha communicated regularly by text and that he had hundreds, if not thousands, of text messages with him — most of which had been deleted from her phone. The officer had texted with her just a few days before her death. Samantha told him that Flores had access to her phone and that Flores was jealous of him. The officer told defendant McClellan that there was “no way” Sam would kill herself. After this interview, Defendants promptly closed the investigation without even questioning Flores about the information revealed by the officer."

• "During the investigation into the shooting, Flores made multiple false and/or conflicting statements that were ignored or unquestioned by the defendants. Even after evidence was developed that contradicted Flores' account of the shooting, the defendants refused to confront Flores with the contradictory evidence. Critically, defendants failed to ask Flores why he had blood splatter on his clothing if he was not in the room when Samantha discharged the weapon. Upon learning that Flores' hands and clothing were positive for gunshot residue, defendants never questioned Flores further about whether he was, in fact, in the bedroom with Samantha when the gun discharged."
• "Channahon police officers were responsible for securing all of the physical evidence, inventorying the physical evidence, and directing the forensic testing of the evidence. To date, all the physical evidence in this case is in the care and custody of the Channahon police department. Specifically, under the direct supervision of Channahon Police Chief Casey, the investigation was led by Deputy Chief Bogart and Detective Andrew McClellan. Although Defendants Bogart and McClellan delegated some tasks to other officers associated with the Will County Task Force, Bogart and McClellan were responsible for deciding what investigative steps should be taken and what witnesses should be interviewed. Official statements about the investigation were issued by the Channahon police department."