Det. Jackson Sues Joliet Chief For Racial Discrimination

JOLIET, IL — Joliet Police Detective David Jackson, who is also president of the Joliet Black Police Officers Association, has hired an Oak Lawn law firm to file a First Amendment civil rights lawsuit in federal court against his boss, Police Chief Al Roechner, the Joliet Police Department, the city of Joliet and five other men.

Jackson's lawsuit in U.S. District Court accuses Roechner's administration of having Jackson arrested in March on phony misdemeanor domestic battery charges.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow handed the domestic battery case off to a special prosecutor and this summer, rather than present any evidence at trial, the special prosecutor dismissed both domestic battery charges against Jackson. Since then, Jackson's defense lawyer, retired judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes, has petitioned Will County's judicial system to expunge Jackson's domestic battery case.

As for this week's federal lawsuit, "Jackson's is also a race discrimination case and unfortunately, it is only the tip of the iceberg," writes Jackson's lawyers, Stacey Vucko and Joseph Vucko, of Vucko Law in Oak Brook. "The Joliet Police Department's anti-black culture and history of retaliation dates back over twenty years.”

Joliet Patch reached out to Chief Roechner for comment on Tuesday night, but he did not respond back.

RELATED: Detective Jackson's Domestic Violence Trial Canceled

"Minority Joliet police officers have long sought redress from state and federal courts, complaining of Joliet administrative level police officers' resistance to affirmative action, use of ethnic slurs, abuses of power, discriminatory promotional practices, frivolous internal affairs charges and other acts that have humiliated and embarrassed them and held them back in their careers."

Jackson has been on Joliet's police force since 1995, his lawsuit states.

"This is his First Amendment case against his employer, the Joliet Police Department, the city of Joliet and the officers who tried to silence his speech in opposition to the Joliet Police Department's deeply entrenched racially discriminatory culture," states his lawyers.

One section of their 31-page federal lawsuit alleges, "Roechner Sees His Opportunity to get even With Jackson."

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Besides Roechner, Detective Jackson's federal civil right lawsuit also names as codefendants:

• Joliet Police Lt. Joe Rosado
• John Perona, Roechner's brief deputy chief, before retiring in July
• Ed Clark, chief of police for Crest Hill
• Jason Opiola, sergeant investigator at the Crest Hill Police Department
• Frank Baloy, owner of Zobel's Tavern in Joliet

"Defendant Frank Baloy ... is being sued for conspiring with one or more Joliet Police officers to deprive Jackson of his civil and constitutional rights," the lawsuit contends.

The Oak Brook lawyers set out to prove that the Joliet Police detective was targeted for punishment as a result of his questioning Roechner's decision in January to fire black officer Lionel Allen.

After seven months of paid leave from the city, in August, Allen was allowed to retire from the city on his own terms; Roechner never presented his case showing why Allen's firing was warranted after 30 years on Joliet's Police Department.

On Feb. 1, Jackson's lawsuit states, he had a two-hour meeting to discuss Allen's firing with Roechner, Deputy Police Chief Marc Reid, who previously ran the internal affairs responsible for Allen's firing, a city councilwoman and community members.

"Jackson questioned Roechner's decision to allow Deputy Chief Marc Reid to conduct the internal investigation that led to Allen's termination, despite the fact that Reid was named individually as a defendant in Allen's pending federal lawsuit for constitutional violations and race discrimination," Jackson's federal lawsuit said.

On March 9, Crest Hill Police were notified of a domestic call involving Jackson and "the facts of which remain disputed. On March 9, 2019, Jackson and (his mistress) each consumed alcoholic beverages at Dar's Bar in Joliet. Jackson was not on duty that evening. After returning to (her) residence, they had a verbal argument about (her) desire to continue consuming alcohol and spending money that evening," Jackson's lawyers claim.

Jackson left the woman's home in Crest Hill, and Crest Hill Police later received a domestic disturbance call. "Crest Hill Police had the resources and experience necessary to investigate a routine domestic incident. Despite this fact, the Joliet PD was alerted to the call and to Jackson's alleged involvement," Jackson's lawyers noted.

"Roechner sent Lt. Rosado and Deputy Chief Perona to the Crest Hill Police Department. Roechner later stated to officers during roll call that he sent his senior officers to Crest Hill in order to 'make sure Crest Hill didn't screw up the charges' against Jackson," the lawsuit alleges.

According to the civil rights lawsuit, Crest Hill Police Sgt. Jason Opiola and Crest Hill Police Chief Ed Clark decided to obtain an arrest warrant "because the Joliet Police Department wanted him arrested."

Prior to his arrest, Jackson told the Crest Hill sergeant during a phone conversation "that a surveillance video recorded at Zobel's Tavern (in Joliet) contained exculpatory evidence showing that (his mistress) had preexisting injuries resulting from a fall at Zobel's," the lawsuit states.

This spring, Jackson retained former judge Carla Policandriotes as his defense lawyer.

Not long afterward, Jackson's lawyer served a subpoena on Zobel Tavern's to gain access to the surveillance recordings from the night in question when Jackson and his mistress were in the bar. However, the bar owner "advised Attorney Policandriotes that he had looked at the video and inquired as to the necessity of its contents and the exact time frame for the copying," this week's federal lawsuit notes.

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"Three days later, (bar owner Frank) Baloy advised Attorney Policandriotes that the video had looped in time and was no longer available for the defense," the federal lawsuit notes. "On information and belief, Baloy is related to Joliet Police Supervisor Lindsey Heavener. The Joliet and Crest Hill and Joliet Police Departments intentionally, negligently or recklessly failed to protect and preserve exculpatory evidence in connection with Jackson's criminal investigation."

The federal lawsuit says Policandriotes requested that the Will County special prosecutor produce Joliet Police Lt. Rosado's interview of Jackson's mistress, his memo of Jackson's statements, the Zobel's Tavern recording and "a case file that Rosado kept on Jackson,among other things. The Joliet PD refused to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense."

After Jackson's defense lawyer filed a motion with the Will County judge outlining all of the unconstitutional aspects of the Joliet Police Department's case, "including the failure to protect and preserve the Zobel's surveillance recording. The domestic charges were ultimately dismissed," the federal case outlines. "However, Roechner, his administration and the Crest Hill Police Department had damaged Jackson's personal and professional reputation in the department and in the community and violated Jackson's Constitutional rights in numerous instances. For example, The Joliet Patch and The Herald-News published portions of the one-sided police report."

Additionally, Roechner and deputy chief John Perona in March "during roll calls and at an investigation division meeting, made biased statements to Jackson's fellow officers that imputed Jackson was guilty of a crime," the lawsuit contends.

In August 2018, Al Roechner was promoted from deputy chief of investigations to interim chief after Brian Benton notified the city he was done. Then, last December, Roechner was named permanent chief.

The city administrative staff chose not to conduct a job search for the position.

Prior to being promoted, Roechner had been on the Joliet Police command staff.

RELATED: Chief Benton Discriminated Against Black Joliet Officer: Lawsuit

"In that position," Jackson's lawyers state, "Roechner used an ethnic slur to refer to African-Americans in front of high-ranking officers in the watch commander's office on at least one occasion, without consequence or discipline," page seven of the lawsuit states. "In 2018, Reid was promoted to ... deputy chief despite the fact that he was named as a defendant in a pending race discrimination lawsuit and that a number of internal grievances have been filed against him by Jackson for discrimination."

The federal lawsuit informs the U.S. District Court in Chicago that a black Joliet Police officer sued the city of Joliet in 1995 asserting the board of fire and police commissioners violated an affirmative action plan by hiring a white officer over him.

In 1997, Mexican-American police officer Renaldo Hernandez sued Joliet Police and two officers for civil rights violations.

"Hernandez overheard Joliet officers criticize affirmation action saying 'That those (black racial epithet) and (Hispanic racial epithet) organizations were trying to get something for nothing,'" Jackson's federal lawsuit notes. "Court records also reflect that an officer named as a defendant in the federal lawsuit admitted that he was, in fact, opposed to affirmative action during his deposition.

"Unfortunately, the Joliet PD's discriminatory and retaliatory culture remains today."

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Jackson became a Joliet Police officer in 1995 and current deputy chief Marc Reid became Jackson's supervisor in 2007. Reid targeted Jackson because of Jackson's race as an African-American, the lawsuit claims.

"Reid harassed, belittled and stalked Jackson," Jackson's lawyers contend. "Jackson opposed Reid's attempts to harass and intimidate him. He told Reid at least four times that Reid was creating a hostile work environment for him. Jackson reported Reid's conduct to his division head. Jackson superior informed him that Reid was a 'liked person' within the department and asked Jackson to leave Reid's shift. The division refused to investigate Reid."

The lawyers for Jackson contend that "Jackson reported the discriminatory and retaliatory conduct to the city of Joliet's human resources director and asked for the city's assistance. Jackson's complaints fell on deaf ears."

Joliet's Police Department does not like Jackson's resistance to its culture of discrimination and practices, the plaintiff's lawyers explain.

"From 2007 to the present, the department has singled Jackson out and issued frivolous internal affairs complaints against him," the lawsuit states. In 2009, then- Lt. Roechner and Sgt. Patrick Cardwell teamed up to give Jackson "a negative performance evaluation. Roechner and Cardwell are both white. Jackson contested the evaluation to his police commander and advised him that he wanted a fair evaluation," the lawsuit outlines.

In 2012, "the Joliet PD essentially admitted it had held Jackson to a less favorable standard with regard to the 2009 evaluation in an addendum to Jackson's evaluation. The unfounded internal affairs investigation complaints have held Jackson back in his career and negatively impacted his earning potential," Jackson's lawyers pointed out.

Back in 2013, Jackson interviewed for a detective opening, but was denied the job, his lawsuit states. In time, "Jackson learned that Reid provided the selection committee with a frivolous 2007 internal affairs complaint authored by Reid, which caused Jackson to score third on the selection list with two lesser qualified candidates above him," the Vucko Law firm asserts.

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In January, Jackson arranged for a meeting with Chief Roechner to discuss the chief's attempt to fire Allen, who had filed a federal racial discrimination lawsuit just seven months earlier against chief Brian Benton. In the meeting, Jackson stated he was there as president of the black police officers group and "Jackson questioned the evidence to support Allen's termination and the personnel involved in the internal investigation of Allen," Jackson's lawyers explain.

RELATED: Lionel Allen Retires 7 Months After Chier Tried Firing Him

"Roechner said he was upset with Jackson because Jackson had earlier gone directly to interim city manager Marty Shanahan to recommend a diversity candidate for an open deputy chief position. Roechner said that he did not like Jackson's candidate for the position and that he did not care about diversity," the plaintiff's lawyers contend.

Then, four days after Jackson met with Roechner and deputy chief John Perona, "Jackson was notified by his police supervisor about the existence of a comment posted on a Facebook page for the Joliet Herald-News. The post was attributed to a Facebook user claiming to be 'Dave Jackson.' Jackson did not have any involvement in writing or posting the comment, the lawsuit advised.

"The Facebook post reflected details of a pending internal investigation which were known only to certain supervisory personnel in the Joliet PD at that time," Jackson's lawyers state. "Jackson was not privy to the investigation details cited in the Facebook post."

Jackson reported the Facebook post and the fake Dave Jackson to the head of the investigations unit at his department and he sought an investigation into the matter. "The department refused to investigate," his lawyers argue.

Jackson's civil rights lawsuit further alleges that "Roechner and the Joliet PD treat black officers' internal affairs complaints differently than internal complaints of white officers."