A Chicago Police officer who was at the heart of a
$325,000 settlement last year for beating a man and falsely charging him with
DUI is being sued by another man who claims he was falsely arrested.
Ricardo Cruz filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit
Court Thursday against Officer John Haleas, who was indicted in 2008 for
falsifying drunken driving arrests. The City of Chicago is also named as a
defendant.
According to the suit, Cruz was sitting on a porch
with a group of friends on Feb. 15, 2004, when Haleas approached the group and
ordered them to leave.
When Cruz refused to leave the area, Haleas arrested
him for driving under the influence of alcohol when he hadn’t even been inside
of a vehicle, the suit claims.
About a year later, on Feb. 19, 2005, Haleas pulled
over a vehicle being driven by Cruz’s girlfriend, with Cruz sitting in the back
seat between his children, according to the suit.
When Haleas approached the vehicle, he recognized Cruz
from his previous arrest the year before and pulled him out of the back seat
over his daughter’s lap, the suit claims.
He then allegedly arrested Cruz for driving under the
influence, despite the fact that he had been sitting in the back of the
vehicle, according to the suit.
He also arrested Cruz’s girlfriend for child
endangerment for supposedly allowing Cruz to drive under the influence with
their children in the vehicle, the suit claims. The charges against her were
later dropped.
In October of 2006, Cruz was convicted of the DUI
charge based on Haleas’ false testimony in court, according to the suit. He was
sentenced to four years in prison, but his conviction was overturned after
Haleas was arrested and indicted for falsifying charges. Cruz was released
after serving 14 months in prison.
Haleas wracked up 718 arrests in 2005 and 2006, only
to have 156 of those cases dismissed after his arrest, the Sun-Times reported
last year. He was indicted and relieved of his police powers in 2008 and
pleaded guilty four years later to misdemeanor attempted obstruction of
justice.
Haleas received a five-day suspension subsequently
reduced to a one-day suspension by the Police Board. He is now assigned to the
Records Division, the Sun-Times reported.
The City Council’s Finance Committee approved a
$325,000 settlement in May of 2013 to compensate Julio Martinez, a hemophiliac
who was falsely arrested and beaten by Haleas in 2009.
Cruz’s four-count suit charges Haleas and the city
with malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It
also holds the city responsible for Haleas’ actions, claiming they occurred
within the scope of his employment as a Chicago Police officer.
Cruz is seeking an undisclosed amount of money in
damages, in addition to legal fees.
A representative for the city’s law department could
not immediately comment on the suit Thursday night.
