Post by KC on Oct 31, 2006 21:13:34 GMT -5
A former Des Plaines alderman and police sergeant was found not guilty of a battery charge against a Des Plaines police detective on Oct. 16 in connection with a toothpick-throwing incident that occurred in the downtown police station.
The trial stems from an incident that occured on May 19, 2005. Wayne Adams, the defendant in the case, was brought in for questioning after being spotted sitting in his car at a car dealer lot on Oakton and River roads. He was checking out a yellow sports car after business hours, around 11:15 p.m. While at the police station, Adams and Detective Jeffrey Rotkvich got into a dispute over a toothpick Adams had in this mouth, with Rotkvich demanding its removal. Adams then either flipped or tossed the toothpick at Rotkvich, hitting him in the right chest area.
Adams, who has been practicing law for 27 years and was a Des Plaines alderman for many years, is claiming to have been a victim of police brutality, with two civil cases pending, one against Rotkvich, and another against the officers who initially brought him in.
The police, though, contest that Adams was uncooperative throughout the process and that he maliciously flung the saliva-coated toothpick at the officer without provocation.
Adams defended himself in the criminal trial, and made the case that he was simply tossing the toothpick into Rotkvich's hand. In his closing statement, he told the jury that if they went to the police saying they'd been assaulted with a toothpick, nothing would happen.
Adams said he believes the only reason the trial was held at all was because of the civil cases he has pending.
"Nobody else can use the criminal justice system against you like this," Adams said this week. "The average person couldn't fight them like I have." This was the defense he used with the jury, and it worked, but Adams is still reeling from what happened.
"It was a nightmare. It was really ridiculous that this was a crime. A year in jail for the difference between four inches between his hand and his chest. I said I tossed it to him, he said I flipped it at him. Between tossing and flipping, we had 12 people on the jury, and three days in the courtroom."
The first of Adams' civil suits is pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County. It charges Rotkvich with holding Adams against his will in an interrogation room, forcefully squeezing his genital area, and using great force to push him down the hallway to the lockup area.
The second suit is pending in the U.S. District Court, and it charges Des Plaines police officers Oscar Szczerbinski, Richard Lalowski, and Carol Dougherty with violating Adams' civil rights by falsely arresting him in a painful manner.
Deputy Chief of the Detective Bureau of Investigations, Terry McAllister, said that any charges of police brutality are totally false.
www.journal-topics.com/dp/06/dp061027.1.html
The trial stems from an incident that occured on May 19, 2005. Wayne Adams, the defendant in the case, was brought in for questioning after being spotted sitting in his car at a car dealer lot on Oakton and River roads. He was checking out a yellow sports car after business hours, around 11:15 p.m. While at the police station, Adams and Detective Jeffrey Rotkvich got into a dispute over a toothpick Adams had in this mouth, with Rotkvich demanding its removal. Adams then either flipped or tossed the toothpick at Rotkvich, hitting him in the right chest area.
Adams, who has been practicing law for 27 years and was a Des Plaines alderman for many years, is claiming to have been a victim of police brutality, with two civil cases pending, one against Rotkvich, and another against the officers who initially brought him in.
The police, though, contest that Adams was uncooperative throughout the process and that he maliciously flung the saliva-coated toothpick at the officer without provocation.
Adams defended himself in the criminal trial, and made the case that he was simply tossing the toothpick into Rotkvich's hand. In his closing statement, he told the jury that if they went to the police saying they'd been assaulted with a toothpick, nothing would happen.
Adams said he believes the only reason the trial was held at all was because of the civil cases he has pending.
"Nobody else can use the criminal justice system against you like this," Adams said this week. "The average person couldn't fight them like I have." This was the defense he used with the jury, and it worked, but Adams is still reeling from what happened.
"It was a nightmare. It was really ridiculous that this was a crime. A year in jail for the difference between four inches between his hand and his chest. I said I tossed it to him, he said I flipped it at him. Between tossing and flipping, we had 12 people on the jury, and three days in the courtroom."
The first of Adams' civil suits is pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County. It charges Rotkvich with holding Adams against his will in an interrogation room, forcefully squeezing his genital area, and using great force to push him down the hallway to the lockup area.
The second suit is pending in the U.S. District Court, and it charges Des Plaines police officers Oscar Szczerbinski, Richard Lalowski, and Carol Dougherty with violating Adams' civil rights by falsely arresting him in a painful manner.
Deputy Chief of the Detective Bureau of Investigations, Terry McAllister, said that any charges of police brutality are totally false.
www.journal-topics.com/dp/06/dp061027.1.html