Attorney Drops Brutality Lawsuit Against Park Ridge Police
PARK RIDGE, Ill. (CBS) -- A police misconduct lawsuit in Park Ridge has been dismissed, less than two months after it was filed.
Attorney Randy Baudin filed the lawsuit, claiming that he was the victim of police brutality during an arrest two yearas ago, and calling excessive force a "systemic problem" at the Park Ridge Police Department.
But Baudin voluntarily dismissed his complaint against the City of Park Ridge, Sgt. Jean Delfosse and Officer Tom Rechlicz on Feb. 15, eight days after filing it in Cook County Circuit Court, records show. Baudin, an attorney from Crystal Lake, is allowed the opportunity to refile the suit if he wishes.
Baudin was seeking $1 million in punitive damages.
Baudin told CBS 2's Dana Kozlov last month that he and a nurse got into an argument at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge two years ago when he went to see his gravely ill mother.
But he said he wasn't behaving in an unruly or criminal manner.
Even so, he ended up in handcuffs after police arrived in the middle of that argument.
Baudin claims that when officers arrived, he simply turned around to leave the hospital, but officers jumped him.
"My arm felt like it was ripped out of the socket," Baudin said. "And then, at that point, I heard them say 'Now he's resisting,' and the cuffs came on tighter than they would if they needed to handcuff my grandson. … I wasn't even moving."
Baudin was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. A Cook County Circuit Court Judge found Baudin guilty of all three charges following a bench trial last summer.
But Baudin said his shoulder was permanently injured. Now he's suing the police department and claims he's one in a long line of Park Ridge police misconduct victims.
His lawsuit lists several other alleged victims of excessive force, including Gavin Farley, who was just 15 years old when Park Ridge Police Lt. Jason Leavitt allegedly beat him and slammed his head into a sidewalk.
Leavitt was indicted last fall for that crime.
The suit also lists Gregory Gorman, who has claimed that Park Ridge officers arrested his wife for a DUI and him for disorderly conduct and obstructing justice during a 2004 traffic stop, even though police video indicated no crimes were committed.
In the Baudin case, Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski said he believed the accounts of his officers and witnesses to the events.
"I thought everyone acted appropriately," he said. "Now that it's been dismissed I'm hopeful this has been resolved and ended."
Pioneer Press contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire
