Federal judge dismisses suit against Palatine, Mount Prospect officers
A federal judge has dismissed a Chicago man's lawsuit against several Palatine and Mount Prospect police officers over his shooting during a June 2016 drug bust.
Michael Douglas, 30, was shot in the leg by one of the officers on the 500 block of Quentin Road of Palatine when, authorities say, he drove a vehicle at them as they attempted to take him into custody.
His suit, which also named the villages of Palatine and Mount Prospect as defendants, accused the officers of excessive force, conspiracy and malicious prosecution.
However, in a 15-page ruling dismissing the case Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer notes that Douglas was convicted in 2018 of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and aggravated assault of a police officer in the incident that led to his shooting.
Authorities said Douglas, who is serving a 13-year prison sentence, was trying to flee arrest when he drove at the officers in an apartment complex parking lot. One of the officers, who later said he was acting out of fear for his and his colleagues' safety, opened fire, hitting Douglas in the leg.
Douglas continues to maintain he did not try to run down the officers, but Pallmeyer ruled that his claims are inconsistent with the conviction and rejected his version of how events occurred that night in 2016.
"Because Douglas was convicted of this charge, and that conviction has not been overturned, the court must accept as true that (the officer) reasonably feared Douglas would strike him with his car," Pallmeyer wrote. "An objectively reasonable officer in (this) situation could conclude, further, that the driver of the fleeing car 'posed a threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to others,' and thus, (the officer) was justified in using deadly force to apprehend Douglas."