Crime & Safety
Man Says Joliet Police Wrongly Shot Him, Files Lawsuit
James Pacheco charges the police never told him why they wanted him to stop and opened fire when he didn't. However, the police at the time said the officer fired when Pacheco drove directly at him rather than stopping.
A Lockport man who was shot by Joliet police last summer has filed a federal lawsuit against the officers who fired at him and the city of Joliet.
"I had no idea why their guns were drawn or why they were pulling me over," Pacheco told the station.
Pacheco was stopped at about 2:30 a.m. July 12, 2012, at Washington Street and Melchoir Place by two officers investigating a criminal damage incident at 359 Union St. As they walked over to Pacheco's car, he drove off on eastbound Washington, according to a news released issued by the department about the incident.
When Pacheco was forced to stop at a railroad crossing blocked by a train, the officers again exited their car and demanded that he come out of his vehicle. Instead, he did a u-turn and drove directly at them, the news release said.
One of the officers fired at the car while getting out Pacheco's way, and the chase continued to Lockport, where Pacheco drove into a light pole at State and Division. Pacheco was struck in the arm and shoulder.
Pacheco's account of the incident is different from that of the news release issued at the time, the Channel 7 story said.
Pacheco said he was in the process of making a u-turn because of the train when Joliet officers first tried to stop him and demand he get out of his car. Before he could do so, however, one of the officers started shooting at him, he told the reporter.
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Fearing for his life, Pacheco fled in his car and ended up crashing at State and Division streets in Lockport, he said.
His account, he said, is backed up by a surveillance tape that caught some of what happened that night, including the shots being fired. (Click here to watch the video, which is part of the news report.)
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"When they pull the trigger of that gun, there has to be no room for error. No room for overreaction. No chance that that's an unjustified shooting," Tomczak told the news station.
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