Black Cop Rejected By Ex-Joliet Chief Resolves His Federal Lawsuit

JOLIET, IL —The city of Joliet and ex-Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner have resolved the federal discrimination lawsuit filed in December 2020 by Black police officer Anthony Sinnott. The lawsuit was resolved just over a week before the start of the federal jury trial in Chicago.

One source told Joliet Patch that in the weeks leading up to Friday's lawsuit settlement, the plaintiffs were seeking a settlement of $900,000 while the city of Joliet had made a counteroffer, proposing a $600,000 financial settlement.

Joliet and Roechner were defended by lawyers Kelly Anne Coyle and James Powers of Clark Baird Smith in Rosemont. Earlier this year, Clark Baird Smith had asked U.S. District Mary Rowland to dismiss Sinnott's lawsuit.

Although the judge dismissed some of the plaintiff's counts, including separate First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment due process claims, the judge concluded that Sinnott's main count, alleging racial discrimination, would be decided by the federal jury, starting Oct. 10.

Sinnott, who has worked at the Lynwood Police Department since October 2018, is the brother of Joliet Police Detective James Sinnott, who has been employed with Joliet police since 2013 and is a member of the Joliet Police Department's Black Police Officer Association.

When Roechner rejected Anthony Sinnott's job application, Joliet's police chief did not hire any Black officers during that particular round of hires, according to the federal judge.

"My client was the fifth-highest ranked applicant on the Police and Fire Board Eligibility List," Sinnott's lawyer, Stacey Vucko, told Joliet Patch back in February. "Joliet rejected his application and instead hired nine other candidates —all of whom were Caucasian and most of whom scored lower than him.

"It is undisputed that Joliet’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners goes with the police chief’s recommendations at least 90 percent to 99 percent of the time. We have witness testimony under oath that the slang derogatory term 's ***head' was used to refer to African Americans, and that Roechner has used it on several occasions."

Stacey Vucko and her husband, Joey, run Vucko Law LLP, which is now based in Downers Grove.

According to Judge Rowland's summary judgment rulings from earlier this year, the Joliet Police Department employed 328 people in 2019; of those, 30 were Black.

"It is undisputed that the City has hired applicants with arrests for domestic battery in the past; these applicants are Caucasian ... although Defendant contends that Plaintiff’s background precluded him from qualifying for the role, a reasonable jury could find that Plaintiff was qualified in spite of his background," Judge Rowland declared.

In Sinnott's case, the federal judge found that Joliet hired other applicants in 2019 with imperfect backgrounds, including backgrounds with domestic incidents, one who admitted stealing food from previous employers without paying, one who took a video of a woman without permission, had viewed pornography at work, masturbated at work and had accidentally viewed bestiality.

In addition, the judge noted, another was arrested for a DUI but found not guilty. Another had a use of force complaint filed against him at his previous police department, which he said was unfounded.

"Viewing the record in Plaintiff’s favor, a jury could reasonably conclude that Plaintiff was qualified for the officer position in spite of his prior background," Judge Rowland concluded.