Samantha Harer Excessive Force Death Lawsuit: Q&A

It's been nine months since Samantha Harer, a 23-year-old WESCOM dispatcher who had no history of suicidal tendencies, died of a gunshot wound to her head inside her tiny Channahon apartment. At the time of her shooting, her much older boyfriend, Crest Hill Police Officer Felipe "Phil" Flores, was present.

Flores, though, assured Channahon's Police Department and fellow members of the Will County-Grundy County Major Crimes Task Force that Samantha Harer was despondent and that she had shot herself, court documents reflect.

Last month, Kevin and Heather Harer, the parents of the young woman who was a former police intern at the Channahon Police Department, filed a federal lawsuit against Flores, as well as the Channahon Police Department and the Crest Hill Police Department, where Flores continues to get paid for not coming into work.

From the get-go, the case involving Flores created a potential public relations nightmare for the Crest Hill Police Department.

That Will County police agency does not want to face the same national scrutiny that happened to the Bolingbrook Police Department surrounding Sgt. Drew Peterson, who was not arrested at the time of his third wife's death, Kathleen Savio, in Bolingbrook in 2004.

It was only after his fourth wife, Stacy, vanished in October 2007 that authorities in Will County began to realize that Peterson was likely a multiple murderer.

Peterson was ultimately convicted of murdering Savio, a death that the Will County Coroner's Office initially ruled was a bathtub accident.

Now, last month's federal lawsuit makes it apparent that Channahon Police and the Will County Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil agree that Harer's death will be officially classified as a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that charges will not be filed in her death.

Meanwhile, the federal lawsuit is off to an extremely rocky start as will be explained later in this article.

Q: Who filed the federal lawsuit?

A: Chicago attorney Scott Kamin of The Kamin Civil Rights Group. In May, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Kamin agreed to represent Shomari Legghette, the man charged with murdering Chicago Police Commander Paul Bauer. “I saw that he was getting convicted in the press and I sent him a letter and asked if he’d be interested in me representing him pro bono,” Kamin told the Chicago Sun-Times. "I can’t share defense strategy, but I believe he has a viable defense."

His law firm website states that "I have dedicated my law practice to helping individuals pursue justice and compensation for wrongful death by police. I have a sophisticated understanding of proper Illinois law enforcement procedures, and I can evaluate your loved one's situation from every angle to help prove law enforcement liability."

Q: What are the key allegations asserted in the Samantha Harer federal lawsuit?

A: Kamin alleges Samantha Harer began dating Officer Phil Flores in 2017 and at that time, "Samantha did not know that Defendant Flores had a long history of drinking problems. Nor did she know that on March 4, 2016, Defendant Flores had been accused of public drunkenness and then breaking into a woman's apartment, using his service weapon to facilitate his rape of the woman. Defendant Flores' administrative leave lasted for only one month, ending long before Defendant Flores began dating Samantha."

Q: What's Flores' background as a police officer?

A: Flores is from Texas, but he grew up and graduated from Joliet West and then spent eight years in the military, including tours of duty overseas in Iraq. He returned to the Joliet area after the service but struggled to maintain steady employment at Joliet's warehouses. Then he got hired as a police officer by now-retired police chief Dwayne Wilkerson. His hiring as a Crest Hill Police officer also had the support of veteran Crest Hill Mayor Ray Solimon.

Q: Has the village of Crest Hill rallied around Officer Flores' and publicly supported him?

A: Not exactly.

Current police chief Ed Clark, who inherited Flores into his police department when Clark took over as chief in October 2016, chose to put Flores on indefinite paid suspension on Feb. 13. That was the same day as the gunshot death of Flores' girlfriend.

To this day, Flores remains on indefinite paid leave from Crest Hill, where he had worked for about six years as an overnight patrol officer.

Over the past several months, Chief Clark has chosen to duck interviews with the Joliet Patch regarding his dilemma with Officer Flores. In some of his initial interviews with Patch, Clark gave no indication that Flores' job was in jeopardy in light of the shooting.

The federal lawsuit states that, "Defendant Crest Hill further permitted Defendant Flores to patrol the town even though it knew of his alcoholism. Decedent and Defendant Flores' alcoholism had not subsided, a fact of which decedent Crest Hill was aware."

Q: What were the Feb. 13 events as outlined in the lawsuit?

A: The lawsuit states that Harer and Flores "continued their on again, off again relationship through the beginning of 2018. When the two were not fighting, defendant Flores often slept at decedent’s apartment. Even when the two fought, Defendant Flores would refuse to leave decedent’s apartment, forcing Samantha to sleep at her parents’ house nearby. On or about February 13, 2018, the rocky relationship came to a head. Defendant Flores, intoxicated, off-duty and carrying his service firearm, came over to decedent’s apartment while she was alone. Samantha recognized Defendant Flores as a Crest Hill police officer. Defendant Flores did not tell Samantha that he was off-duty at the time. He argued with Samantha and then shot and killed her. Defendant Flores subsequently contacted 911, indicated that he was a police officer and claimed that the decedent shot herself."

Q: Why is Channahon being dragged into this federal lawsuit? Isn't Channahon overseeing the investigation into Harer's death?

A: The federal lawsuit indicates that Crest Hill and Channahon have already decided Harer's death will be ruled a suicide and that Officer Flores will not be charged with any crimes.

The lawsuit states that "defendant Crest Hill’s police department, following the code of silence, announced that based on a thorough investigation, the shooting of decedent had been a suicide ... defendant Channahon conspired with Defendant Crest Hill in maintaining its code of silence, also claiming that the shooting had been self-inflicted."

Q: Are any acts of police misconduct alleged in this lawsuit?

A: Yes. The lawsuit states Channahon and Crest Hill "through its police personnel, attempted to hide all the evidence, claiming the investigation is ongoing when in fact it ended months ago ... Defendants Crest Hill and Channahon continue to claim the incident was a suicide, refusing to release documents that would show beyond doubt that Defendant Flores committed the shooting."

Q: OK, but what about specifics raised in lawsuit?

A: The lawsuit lacks any specifics naming members of Channahon's and Crest Hill's police departments engaging in outright misconduct, leading to the possibility that the municipal lawyers for the defendants may file a motion asking the federal court to dismiss the lawsuit for lacking merit and substance.

Q: The lawsuit was filed in early October. What progress has been made by the plaintiff's lawyer during the past month? What's he saying in the press?

A: Nothing, Kamin is doing absolutely nothing on behalf of his clients at the moment because he can't. The day after he filed the lawsuit, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a three-month disciplinary sanction against Kamin, forbidding him from practicing law for 90 days.

"Mr. Kamin, who was licensed in 1995, was suspended for ninety days. He dishonestly accepted service of a complaint and summonses for the subtenants in his office suite, who, along with Mr. Kamin, were defendants in an eviction action filed by his landlord. After he accepted service on behalf of the subtenants, he concealed the lawsuit from them. When he appeared in court for the case, he failed to inform the court that he had not been authorized to accept service or appear on behalf of the subtenants. The suspension is effective on October 11, 2018," the ruling states.

Other lawyers have told Joliet Patch that Kamin probably knew the suspension against him was coming down. Therefore, filing the federal lawsuit in the Samantha Harer case before being suspended was more advantageous to his law firm, if Kamin believed the case has a long-term chance for success.

The lawsuit has asked a federal court to award at least $15 million in compensatory damages, plus attorney's fees and costs. The lawsuit alleges "Crest Hill and Channon (sic) conspired to cover up the homicide of Samantha by Defendant Flores by tampering with the crime scene and hiding evidence of the homicide."

Q: What's Officer Flores saying these days?

Since Harer died, Flores has ducked all interviews with the news media, including Joliet Patch. He also chose to avoid attending his girlfriend's funeral service at Fred C. Dames Funeral Home off Black Road. At no point since her death has Flores attempted to speak with Harer's parents, they have told Patch.

After her death, Flores, who had been very active on social media and Facebook, took down all of his social media accounts including his Facebook page.

Main image of Samantha Harer and other images provided to Patch with permission to use