Crest Hill Cop Killed Samantha Harer: Lawsuit

The Channahon Police Department and Crest Hill Police Department are accused of conspiring to protect one of their own, troubled Crest Hill Officer Felipe "Phil" Flores, who is accused of killing his 23-year-old girlfriend, Samantha Harer, back in February, a new federal lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit seeks more than $15 million in damages from the defendants, Flores, Channahon and Crest Hill, plus attorneys' fees.

Wednesday's lawsuit was filed in downtown Chicago's federal court by Chicago attorney Scott Kamin on behalf of the dead 911 dispatcher's grieving parents, Heather and Kevin Harer.

The Channahon Police Department has left her death as an open investigation. The chief of police and one of his detectives initially went to the parents' house and told them their daughter took her own life. Channahon's Police Department is led by chief Shane Casey and deputy chief Adam Bogart. Another person at the department who has been involved with the case is Detective Andrew McClelland.

Meanwhile, Crest Hill Police Chief Ed Clark has chosen to keep Flores on his city's payroll, at his regular $80,000 per year salary. Flores has remained on paid suspension since the day of Harer's death, Feb. 13.

Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil has chosen not to issue an official cause and manner of death for Harer. Officially, her death is considered undetermined or unknown.

As for Phil Flores, the six-year Crest Hill officer called 911 on a Tuesday morning eight months ago and claimed his girlfriend shot herself in the head while he was there inside of her tiny apartment.

The federal lawsuit includes a conspiracy claim involving the Police Department in Channahon and the Police Department in Crest Hill. "Defendants ... conspired to cover up the homicide of Samantha by defendant Phil Flores by tampering with the crime scene and hiding evidence of the homicide."

The lawsuit includes one count of excessive force against Flores alleging:

"Defendant Flores used excessive force against Samantha, including shooting her in the head. As a result of this excessive force, Samantha died."

The lawsuit states that "Flores and the other officers involved in the investigation in the death of Samantha" were "promoting, advocating and or allowing the 'code of silence' where officers refuse to report, or otherwise cover-up, instances of police misconduct despite their obligations under the law and police regulations. The code of silence also includes police officers remaining silent or giving false and misleading information to protect themselves or fellow officers from internal discipline, civil or criminal liability."

The last police officer charged with murder in Will County was Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson. Peterson was ultimately convicted of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose death was initially classified as a bathtub accident by one of the medical examiners who worked for the Will County Coroner's Office. Years later, Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, vanished in October 2007. Her body has never been found, but Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow was able to prove that Peterson had murdered his third wife, Savio, and staged her death to appear to be an accident.

In March of 2016, Flores was accused of raping a sleeping woman at her house after a long night of heavy drinking at one of the local bars. The woman went to the Crest Hill Police Department a month later and reported Flores to the police. The case was later turned over to the Illinois State Police and Flores spent several months in 2016 on paid leave from his job.

No criminal charges were filed in the case, but Flores was given one month of unpaid suspension because of the incident.

At no point during the past nine months has the Channahon Police Department called Flores a criminal suspect or even a person of interest in Harer's death.

The two Will County police departments have a close relationship and one of the assistant police chiefs at Crest Hill previously worked at the Channahon Police Department.

File image of Samantha Harer and Phil Flores provided to Patch with permission to use