Samantha Harer Lawsuit Must Be Dismissed: Flores' Lawyer

CREST HILL, IL — Former Crest Hill Police Officer Felipe "Phil" Flores has asked a federal judge to dismiss the federal civil rights lawsuit filed against him in 2018 by the family of Samantha Harer.

In February 2018, Harer, 23, was fatally shot in the head while she was naked in the bedroom of her Channahon apartment.

Flores, her estranged boyfriend, was inside her apartment at the time of her death, and he called 911, saying that she locked herself in her bedroom and shot herself before he could open the door.

Flores' hands and his clothing tested positive for gunshot residue, but the Channahon Police Department and the Will County-Grundy County Major Crimes Task Force later announced that Harer's death was being classified as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

No criminal charges were brought against Flores.

Flores, however, never worked a single day as a patrol officer at Crest Hill after Harer's death. After receiving more than a year of paid leave, in March 2019, Flores resigned from the Crest Hill police force.

Joliet Patch has previously reported that Flores chose not to attend Harer's funeral at the Fred C. Dames Funeral Home in Joliet, even though the two had dated for more than eight months. Flores also ducked numerous attempts to be interviewed by Patch to give his account of the shooting.

Flores has had no contact with Heather and Kevin Harer, Samantha Harer's parents, since the shooting, even though he met her parents at least a dozen times while he was dating their daughter.

The Harers are represented by New York civil rights lawyer Jennifer Bonjean. Bonjean's lawsuit named Channahon Police Chief Shane Casey, Deputy Chief Adam Bogart and lead detective Andrew McClellan as co-defendants, accusing them of police misconduct.

But last year, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Channahon's motion for the village and its officials to be removed as co-defendants of the suit. In late July, lawyers representing the city of Crest Hill were also able to convince federal judge Robert Gettleman to reverse his previous decision and dismiss that city from the lawsuit as well.

With Channahon and Crest Hill gone, that only leaves former Officer Flores as the federal lawsuit defendant. The Itasca law firm representing Flores recently filed a motion asking Gettleman to dismiss the entire federal lawsuit against their client.

If the Harers' lawsuit is to move forward, the lawyers for Flores argued, that should happen in state court, such as Will County, not at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.

Flores is represented by attorneys Michael Bersani and David Mathues of Hervas, Condon and Bersani.

According to the lawyers defending Flores: "the situation has changed since Flores’ motion was denied as moot over 18 months ago. The Channahon Defendants took an interlocutory appeal and prevailed, so the claims against them were dismissed roughly a year ago in light of the appellate ruling. The claims against Crest Hill were dismissed last month, after Crest Hill’s motion to reconsider in light of new case law was granted.

"With all federal claims gone, there is no longer subject matter jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims against Flores."

The Itasca law firm for Flores contends that if Harer's lawyer wants to pursue litigation, it should be done in state court.

"All that is left in this case is a state-law wrongful death claim between citizens of Illinois," Mathues stated in his motion. "This is the kind of claim that is routinely litigated in state courts. More to the point, there is no federal interest in this case and thus no reason to keep it in federal court ... Felipe "Phil" Flores respectfully requests that this court grant his renewed motion to dismiss."

Related Patch coverage of the Samantha Harer case:

Channahon Wins Dismissal From Samantha Harer Lawsuit

Samantha Harer Case Timeline: 2018, 2019

911 Dispatcher's Gun Death Still Open 7 Weeks Later

Samantha Harer Was Murdered, Parents Believe

Minooka Parents Still Kept In The Dark