Former Crestwood Cops Get $1.8M Settlement Of Federal Suit

CRESTWOOD, IL — Five former Crestwood police officers will share a $1.8 million settlement after village officials approved the settlement that stemmed from a federal lawsuit in which the officers claimed they were fired and threatened after they sought to unionize in 2019.

A judge agreed on Monday to dismiss the federal lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2020. A news release from the law firm representing the former officers said that paperwork to dismiss the lawsuit was filed on Friday, a day after the village voted to approve the settlement at its September 7 meeting.

Village officials did not respond to a request by Patch seeking comment on the settlement.

The lawsuit, which was filed by the five former officers, named former Crestwood Mayor Lou Presta, Crestwood Police Chief David Weigand, and others as defendants. The lawsuit, which was filed by former part-time Crestwood police officers Don Preston, Joseph Cortesi, Gilbert Hueramo III, and Eric Chmura along with full-time officer Robert Hoselton, said that the officers were forced to resign or were facing disciplinary action if they moved forward with efforts to unionize the department.

The lawsuit said that after officers began efforts to form a union, they learned that cops within the department who supported forming a union would have “targets on their back” moving forward.

The lawsuit stated that Chmura, Cortesi, and Hoselton were all unlawfully fired due to their participation in the effort to unionize. Preston was also fired, according to the lawsuit —although the village claims he was never dismissed.

The officers claimed in the lawsuit that officers who were part of the efforts to form a union faced retaliation, which in most cases, they said, led to them losing their jobs with the department.

In the settlement, the village does not admit to any wrongdoing.