Documents: Plaintiff in civil rights suit drove car at Des Plaines cop
A 40-year-old Villa Park man who has accused two Des Plaines police officers of beating him up tried to run down a cop and fled arrest in 2010, according to documents obtained by the Daily Herald.
Des Plaines police had an outstanding warrant for Sergio Toutges on charges of aggravated assault stemming from a Jan. 26, 2010, incident. According to police, Toutges has an extensive criminal history and gang affiliations.
Police found out through a confidential informant that Toutges was selling drugs in the Des Plaines area, police documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request said. The informant had met and spent time with Toutges in prison three years before, according to the police report.
Police asked the informant to arrange a meeting with Toutges on Jan. 26, 2010, near a fast-food eatery in town under the guise of purchasing narcotics and a pistol from Toutges, the report said.
Members of the Des Plaines Tactical Unit and Rosemont Police Department set up surveillance in the area. Toutges arrived in a vehicle with temporary Illinois license plates and five or six unknown subjects in the car. Once the informant identified Toutges, the tactical team surrounded his car drawing guns and commanding Toutges to exit the vehicle, according to the report.
Toutges abruptly put the vehicle into gear and drove directly at a Des Plaines officer when police commanded him to stop, the report states.
Toutges fled the scene at high speed and turned off his headlights so officers were unable to follow him, according to the documents.
Des Plaines police identified Toutges through his driver’s license, obtained from the informant’s employer, with whom Toutges had left a cash deposit to purchase a car, documents show.
Toutges was later arrested by Elmhurst police Aug. 12, 2010, for a traffic violation and detained on the outstanding Des Plaines arrest warrant.
Toutges alleges in the civil rights complaint filed in federal court that Des Plaines police officers John Bueno and Andy Contreras intimidated, threatened and beat him while he was handcuffed and being transported to the Des Plaines police station from Elmhurst. The suit says he was left in a cell without medical attention for hours before being released on bail the next day.
It is unclear whether Bueno or Contreras were among the officers on the tactical team that handled the Jan. 26 incident.
Bueno, a 10-year veteran of the Des Plaines Police Department, was fired March 2 after allegations of misconduct. He is seeking to be reinstated through an arbitration hearing and also has filed a racial discrimination complaint against the city.
Charges against Contreras stemming from the same incident were dropped after he and the city reached a settlement in April. He rejoined the force in July after a four-month suspension.
The city hasn’t specified what the misconduct was; it’s unclear if it related to the incident that was described in the lawsuit.
City Manager Mike Bartholomew said the city’s outside special counsel, the Chicago law firm Ancel Glink, is working on a response to Toutges’ lawsuit.
Toutges currently is in the Cook County jail on a charge unrelated to the Des Plaines case.