Elmhurst Man Who Settled With City Arrested

ELMHURST, IL – An Elmhurst man who settled a civil rights lawsuit earlier this year was arrested again this week.

John Messino, 41, of Elmhurst, was charged with aggravated driving with a revoked license, driving an uninsured motor vehicle and failure to wear a seat belt, according to an Elmhurst police report. He was taken to the DuPage County Jail, where he was released Thursday.

The arrest was about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at North and Ferndale avenues, police said.

In February, Messino agreed to drop his lawsuit in exchange for $23,000 from the city. The city admitted no wrongdoing.

In June 2018, Messino was arrested on a charge of violating his restricted driver's permit. The lawsuit claimed the police officer, Jason Krueger, lacked probable cause.

The arrest happened after Messino's neighbor in the 500 block of North Walnut Street called police to say that Messino had driven over wooden marker stakes and into bushes on a city right-of-way next to his house. Messino's lawyer said in court documents that Krueger told Messino the arrest would ruin his job and the rest of his life.

In a story in October, Patch wrote about the city's and Messino's legal arguments about whether he should have been arrested.