Elmhurst Man Who Settled With City Arrested Again

ELMHURST, IL – An Elmhurst man has been arrested a second time since he settled a civil rights lawsuit with the city a year ago.

John Messino, 42, who lives in the 200 block of East North End Avenue, was charged with driving with a revoked license, driving an uninsured car, displaying an expired registration and avoiding a traffic signal.

About 7:30 a.m. Monday, an officer stopped Messino for crossing private property to avoid a signal at York Street and Crestview Avenue, police said.

Last May, Messino was arrested on charges of driving with a revoked license, driving an uninsured motor vehicle and failing to wear a seat belt.

Both times, he was taken to the DuPage County Jail, police said.

Last February, Messino agreed to drop his civil rights 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 2021 story, Patch wrote about the city's and Messino's legal arguments about whether he should have been arrested.