5 Joliet Police Violated U.S. Constitution: Sgt. Killian's Lawsuit

JOLIET, IL — Retired Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne Killian, the father of three sons on the Joliet Police Department, has filed a civil lawsuit seeking in excess of $50,000 from five current members of the Joliet police force, claiming the five were responsible for his false arrest last year, and that they orchestrated Killian's arrest without any probable cause.

Thursday's lawsuit at the Will County Courthouse was filed by Plainfield attorney John Schrock. The court filing names Joliet Police Sgt. Ed Grizzle, Police Chief Bill Evans, Deputy Chief Rob Brown, Sgt. Raul Alvarez and Officer Ryan Shaw as the defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Killian lives near Minooka on Arbeiter Road, and his farm is large enough to store large vehicles. Grizzle serves as director of the Tri-County Auto Theft Unit, which investigates stolen vehicles in the Will County area and returns the vehicles to their victims.

The suit states that Tri-County maintains an office at 815 Campbell St. on Joliet's west side, the old Joliet fire station, but the auto theft unit does not have storage facilities for all the vehicles the unit recovers.

Since 2008, Killian served as deputy director of the Tri-County Auto Theft unit and since 2012, Killian secured space from an east-side business at the old U.S. Steel mill property, 109 Ohio Street, to store the recovered stolen vehicles there.

Then in 2021, the lawsuit says Killian learned that the old steel mill building where he stored the recovered stolen vehicles was being demolished and Killian needed to put them elsewhere. By October of that year, Killian learned that a forklift and other property he had temporarily moved to the Joliet Wastewater Treatment Plant building on the east side could no longer stay there, either.

At that time, Killian's lawsuit says he requested that Sgt. Grizzle find a new location to store the vehicles, but "Sgt. Edward Grizzle declined to obtain offsite storage for the TCAT vehicles and advised (Killian) that storage was not in the budget."

Specifically, Tri-County Auto Theft had a forklift, compressor and trailer at the Wastewater Treatment Plant building that requited indoor storage and "TCAT had no place to provide inside storage for the forklift, compressor or trailer."

Killian moved the three items to a barn at his property on Arbeiter Road, the lawsuit claims, and "plaintiff had no use for the TCAT forklift, compressor or trailer."

The suit contends that Grizzle was aware that Killian planned to store the items at his Minooka area barn at no cost to the Tri-County Auto Theft unit.

On June 7, 2022, Grizzle asked Killian to return the forklift, compressor and trailer to the auto theft unit office in Joliet and Killian agreed.

Because Grizzle did not set a time, date or deadline for Killian to do that, Killian left on a planned vacation and attended a funeral for a friend who died, the lawsuit states.

Killian returned to his job as deputy director for Tri-County a week later, on June 14, and that's when Grizzle made a police report charging Killian with theft of the forklift, compressor and trailer.

"Sgt. Edward Grizzle did not have probable cause to believe that plaintiff had committed theft of the forklift, compressor or trailer," the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, Deputy Chief Brown and Police Chief Bill Evans approved the criminal charge that Killian committed theft of the forklift, compressor and trailer and on June 14, 2022, Officer Ryan Shaw and Sgt. Raul Alvarez arrested Killian.

As a result of the arrest, Killian was fired from his job as deputy director for Tri-County Auto Theft unit.

At no point during the past year has any criminal prosecutor filed formal charges against Killian in connection with the arrest by his fellow Joliet police officers.

The lawsuit claims the five Joliet police officials violated the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which "prohibits arrests that are not made with probable cause."

In addition to seeking a judgment from a Will County jury of more than $50,000, Killian and his lawyer want a jury to award them punitive damages and reasonable attorneys fees.

Joliet Patch has reached out to Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English seeking comment for this story. Patch also left a voicemail message seeking comment from Grizzle at his Tri-County Auto Theft office on Campbell Street.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Dwayne Killian 'Permanently Removed' From Tri-County Auto Theft Unit

Dwayne Killian Pursues Lawsuit V. Joliet, Tri-County Auto