Arrested man hurt in patrol car crash sues officer, department

A Cary man under arrest when a police car in which he was riding slammed into a parked vehicle is suing the officer behind the wheel and his department, claiming they intentionally exposed him to injury.

The suit, filed in McHenry County court Tuesday, seeks more than $50,000 in punitive and compensatory damages from the Oakwood Hills Police Department and Officer Ramtin Sabet for injuries Phillip P. Jenks suffered in the Jan. 14 crash.

Jenks, 44, was sitting handcuffed in the back of Sabet's squad when it collided with a parked car on Oakwood Drive near North Park Road, the suit states. At the time, Jenks was under arrest for two domestic battery charges that since have been dismissed.

The suit alleges Sabet not only was negligent in causing the crash, but deliberately put Jenks in harm's way by placing him in the squad's back seat with his hands cuffed behind his back and without a seat belt.

"The front of his face, as a result of the crash, was slammed into the barrier that separates the front of the car from the back," Jenks' attorney, David Rechenberg, said Tuesday. "If he had been handcuffed in the front, at least he would have been able to protect himself."

The impact, Rechenberg said, caused Jenks to lose several teeth and suffer herniated discs in his neck and back.

Oakwood Hills Police Chief Lee Wollenberg did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

The suit will not make its first court appearance until Feb. 11.