A south suburban man who claimed Dolton police officers beat him and pointed a loaded gun to his head in 2007 during a videotaped confrontation in a McDonald’s restaurant was awarded $110,000 in damages Thursday following a two-day jury trial.
William Butler of Riverdale filed the federal civil suit in 2008 against the village of Dolton, Officers Lacey and Bankhead, and other unknown officers.
It claimed officers approached him following a disturbance at a McDonald’s and assaulted him before pointing a loaded rifle at his head, according to a release from the law firm Smith, Johnson and Antholt.
The incident happened on May 16, 2007, when an officer grabbed Butler by the back and neck, pulled him up and dragged him towards another officer, the suit claimed. When an attempt to tackle Butler to the ground failed, Officer Lacey put the shotgun to Butler’s face.
The suit alleged officers conspired to hide evidence of the beating and falsely charged Butler with crimes they knew he did not commit. They also filed false police reports about the arrest and injuries, the suit claimed.
The charges against Butler were dismissed on June 21, 2007.
On Thursday morning, a federal jury agreed Dolton officers used excessive force against Butler and prosecuted him for a crime he did not commit, the release said. The jury awarded Butler $25,000 in compensatory damages, and punitive damages totaling $85,000 against the two officers.
The 10-count suit originally sought more than $4 million in damages.
During the trial, Butler testified Sgt. Lacey pointed a loaded rifle at his head and other officers arrested him for no reason. Portions of the events were shown on the McDonald’s surveillance video, the release said.
Butler did not request any specific damages award, but testified that he felt he had to do something to ensure a similar incident would not happen to others, the release said.
The case was tried before Judge Wayne Andersen in U.S. District Court.
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