Jesus Alamo and his brother, Primitivo Alamo Jr., filed a
lawsuit against the Village of Franklin Park and four of its cops.
Shortly after midnight July 1, 2012, an officer responded to
a separate noise complaint near the Alamo residence then came to the Alamo home
and shone a flashlight over the backyard fence and yelled “police,” the suit
states.
The Almos claim the flashlight was too bright to tell
whether the person was actually a police officer, and when the officer jumped
over the fence into the yard Alamo yelled for him to get off of his property.
The officer then pepper-sprayed Jesus Alamo in the face, the suit alleges.
When Jesus Alamo’s sister helped him inside his home to
rinse out his eyes, officers allegedly followed him into his home, the suit
claims. One officer then punched him and the other beat him with a flashlight
and pepper-sprayed him a second time before placing him under arrest.
When his brother arrived and walked in the front door, an
officer told him he was under arrested for throwing a beer can at him, which he
denied, according to the suit. Two other officers then allegedly threw him to
the ground, pepper-sprayed him in the face and arrested him before leaving him
in an unventilated squad car for an extended time.
According to the suit, both brothers were taken to hospitals
for treatment after the incident. The suit also claims that the pepper spray
inside the home caused Alamo’s then-1-year-old son to require medical treatment
for a heart condition.
However, Franklin Park Mayor Barrett Pedersen said the only
report the village has about the Alamos came when officers executing a
narcotics search warrant in the 3000 block of Houston Street recovered 250
grams of cannabis on Jan. 17, 2012.
Officers arrested Primitivo, who allegedly admitted to
growing and selling marijuana from the residence, Pedersen said. The report
does not mention Jesus Alamo or the use of force.
Pedersen said there was no information on the alleged June
12, 2012 incident.
The 10-count suit includes charges of excessive force, hate
crime, false arrest and assault and battery, among others. The suit is seeking
more than $700,000 in damages.
Alamo was charged with battery, resisting arrest, boisterous
use of premise and aggravated assault to a police officer as a result of the
incident. Alamo Jr. was charged with battery, obstructing and resisting arrest.
All charges against both men were dismissed at their respective trials,
according to the suit.