Plaintiff:
David S. Finnigan
Incident date:
10/13/2013
Location:
56 W. Illinois St.
Allegations:
Finnigan was leaving a bar early in the morning when he saw paramedics treating an acquaintance for injuries. Finnigan called 911, and several police officers arrived. Finnigan saw one of the officers arrest another friend, and held up his phone to record what he felt was an illegal arrest. Officer Wiberg threatened to arrest Finnigan, and Finnigan put his phone away. The officers rounded up Finnigan and his friends and told them to get on the bus that had arrived to pick them up. Finnigan held up his phone again to try to record the incident, and one of the officers, either Wiberg or Officer Wise, grabbed the phone, handcuffed Finnigan and pushed him toward a squad car. While Finnigan's hands were behind his back, Sergeant Egan hit Finnigan in the face with a baton. Finnigan was taken to a police station, where he was searched. The officers and Egan filed false reports and Finnigan was charged with aggravated assault, restricting an officer and disorderly conduct. When Finnigan was released from custody, he asked for his phone back. When it was not returned to him, Finnigan asked the police to make a theft report for the phone, but his request was denied.