Officer Bill Busse Sues Joliet Police Pension Board Over Injury

JOLIET, IL — Bill Busse, the Joliet police officer whose termination remains on hold at the city of Joliet, filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday at the Will County Courthouse against the Joliet Police Department pension board. Busse contends the board made an improper decision in June when it voted to reject Busse's request to obtain a disability pension as a result of a hand injury he suffered on Feb. 23, 2017.

According to his lawsuit, Busse was 36, divorced and the father of two small children when the Joliet police pension board considered Busse's request for a disability pension June 29.

A Homer Glen resident, Busse joined the Joliet Police Department in June 2013 and before that, served on the Park Forest Police Department where he was on the SWAT team.

Busse was a patrol officer in Joliet at the time he injured "his right middle finger in a struggle with a subject on February 23, 2017," states the lawsuit filed on Busse's behalf by Palos Heights attorney Mark McQueary.

According to court records, Busse lacerated his right hand, requiring stitches, about a year earlier. In the Feb. 23, 2017 incident that is the focus of the disability pension claim, Busse was on-duty when he learned of a call around 9:40 p.m. for a suspicious car at a specific Joliet address.

Another officer and a sergeant got to the scene first, prompting the driver to flee, the lawsuit states. Since Busse was close to the scene, he chased after the vehicle.

Busse, who is 6-foot-7 and 240 lbs, captured the driver and took him to the ground.

"The subject resisted arrest so (Busse) struck him on the back of the head with his right fist. When he struck the subject, (Busse) 'immediately knew that he had injured himself,'" Wednesday's lawsuit states.

Busse immediately reported his hand injury to his supervisor, Dawn Malec, and went to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox for treatment of his middle finger.

"The third joint of the long finger of (Busse's) right hand is the only injury site at issue in this claim," his lawyer states.

Busse was diagnosed with a right hand contusion, given ibuprofen and discharged from the hospital. He returned to unrestricted duty a couple days later.

"Applicant worked full and unrestricted police duty until his first surgery on Sept. 28, 2017," the lawsuit states.

Busse never tried to fire his gun between the time of his injury in February 2017 and his disability pension hearing in June 2020, court records state.

His right middle finger underwent an operation in late September 2017 that revealed a complete tear of the ulnar and partial tear of the radial collateral ligament plus scarring, the lawsuit states.

A second operation happened April 5, 2018, and Busse finished his post-surgery therapy in mid-June 2018. By Nov. 30, 2018, Busse underwent his third operation, this one performed by a different doctor than the first two.

Busse "testified that as with his previous operations, he hoped that this third operation would allow him to return to unrestricted duty," his lawsuit states. By April 11, 2019, Busse returned for a final doctor's visit and "had returned to work but had restrictions related to his right hand, including not using his weapon. ... (Busse) could make a fist, but this caused him discomfort and a strong pulling sensation near his third joint. (Busse) reported no weakness, numbness or tingling."

Wednesday's 33-page lawsuit makes no mention that Busse has been accused of using violence, in May 2019 and December 2019, involving his ex-wife in New Lenox.

Busse got arrested two separate times in 2019 and both of those domestic battery cases involving Busse may go trial in 2021.

Busse is being defended by downtown Joliet lawyer Jeff Tomczak of Tomczak Law Group.

On May 18, 2019, "I allowed Bill to come over to talk after the kids went to bed," Busse's ex-wife wrote the court. "At some point when I walked away Bill took my phone and saw I had texted a male ... I told him who it was and Bill flipped out, threw his drink at me, flipped the (couch) over that I was sitting on. He was yelling calling me a f*** w***, a f*** liar. I kept telling him to stop."

"He hit me in the back of the head many times and the sides of my face, put his hand on my throat and was pulling my hair, I was begging him to stop," the ex-wife wrote the court.

Nowadays, Busse "reports persistent right hand weakness and stiffness of the third digit and occasional sharp pain with heavy lifting," his lawyer contends.

Busse "played softball, golfed and worked out before his injury. However, he testified that he cannot do any of that anymore ... (Busse) is no longer in therapy but completes home exercises. He used an electro-stim glove, which did not help."

According to his civil lawyer, Busse worked light duty at the Joliet Police Department from about mid-July 2019 until this March.

Busse "is not aware of any permanent light-duty position in the department and no such position has been offered to him," his lawsuit contends.

In June, the Joliet Police Pension Board voted 3-0 to deny Busse's request for a disability pension. The officers voting against it were: Jeremy Harrison, Richard Raasch and Brian Prochaska.

Earlier this week, Joliet Patch ran another exclusive, revealing that Busse has received 21 regular paychecks of $3,655 since being told of his termination two months into this year. During these past nine months, Busse has made $76,755 since Police Chief Al Roechner notified him of his dismissal.

At no point in 2020 has Roechner appeared in front of the Joliet police and board to present his evidence to show he chose to fire Busse from the department in late February.