Retired Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne Killian, Attorney John Schrock Lose Jury Trial Against Joliet

CHICAGO, IL — Retired Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne Killian will collect no money as a result of his federal lawsuit. Killian filed a civil lawsuit back in 2023 claiming that members of the Joliet Police Department were responsible for his false arrest in 2022, and that they orchestrated Killian's arrest without any probable cause.

This week, a federal jury in Chicago heard evidence during a two-day trial, and U.S. District Judge LaShonda Hunt announced that Killian did not prevail in his federal lawsuit against Joliet.

"Jury finds in favor of Defendant Sgt. Edward Grizzle. Enter Jury Verdict," the docket reads.

Back in 2023, Joliet Patch reported that Killian's lawsuit was filed by Plainfield attorney John Schrock and named Joliet Police Sgt. Ed Grizzle, Police Chief Bill Evans, Deputy Chief Rob Brown, Sgt. Raul Alvarez and Officer Ryan Shaw as defendants.

Judge Hunt granted summary judgment in favor of the City of Joliet and four of the five individual defendants—Deputy Chief Robert Brown, Sergeant Raul Alvarez, Officer Ryan Shaw, and Chief William Evans—dismissing all claims against them prior to trial.

Reached for his reaction to the favorable verdict, Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans said, "It is the Joliet Police Department’s priority to ensure that our members are held accountable for their actions, as accountability reinforces both the legitimacy of our agency and the safety of our community. Justice prevailed as the jury in the federal civil rights lawsuit filed by retired Sergeant Dwayne Killian returned a favorable verdict for the City of Joliet and the Joliet Police Department.

"The Department remains committed to moving forward, upholding the highest standards of professionalism, and continuing our mission to protect and serve the citizens of Joliet.”

As for Killian, he is the father of three sons on the Joliet Police Department.

In February 2023, Joliet Patch reported that Dwayne Killian had been "permanently removed" from the Tri-County Auto Theft Unit after Killian was found keeping a forklift on his rural Kendall County property, according to minutes of a public meeting held in Springfield.

"I wish to pursue a Civil Rights Action for my unlawful arrest on June 14, 2022, against any officers that arrested me and against any officers that made any false police reports that I have concealed theft," Killian's court filing from 2023 states. "The city of Joliet and or Tri-County Auto Theft Unit are in possession of reports ... concerning my arrest on June 14, 2022."

During a July 2022 meeting, now-retired Joliet Police Sgt. Ed Grizzle informed fellow police officers and prosecutors from across Illinois that Killian had been keeping a forklift that was previously seized by the Illinois State Police and awarded to the Tri-County Auto Theft Unit in 2012.

Grizzle and current Joliet Police Detective Cris Gombosi began to go through the inventory of the Tri-County Auto Theft Unit property, and they learned that some equipment was sold off in accordance with state seizure laws and after conversations with the Will County State's Attorney's Office.

Killian lives near Minooka on Arbeiter Road, and his farm is large enough to store large vehicles. Around 2022, Joliet Police Sgt. Ed Grizzle served as director of the Tri-County Auto Theft Unit, which investigates stolen vehicles in the Will County area and returns the vehicles to their victims.

Since 2008, Killian served as deputy director of the Tri-County Auto Theft unit and since 2012, Killian secured space from an east-side business at the old U.S. Steel mill property, 109 Ohio St., to store the recovered stolen vehicles there. Then in 2021, Killian's lawsuit advised, Killian learned that the old steel mill building where he stored the recovered stolen vehicles was being demolished and Killian needed to put them elsewhere.

Specifically, Tri-County Auto Theft had a forklift, compressor and trailer at the Joliet Wastewater Treatment Plant building that requited indoor storage and "TCAT had no place to provide inside storage for the forklift, compressor or trailer." Killian moved the three items to a barn at his property on Arbeiter Road, his lawsuit claims, and "plaintiff had no use for the TCAT forklift, compressor or trailer."

On June 7, 2022, Grizzle asked Killian to return the forklift, compressor and trailer to the auto theft unit office in Joliet, and Killian agreed. Because Grizzle did not set a time, date or deadline for Killian to do that, Killian left on a planned vacation and attended a funeral for a friend who died, his lawsuit stated.

Killian returned to his job as deputy director for Tri-County a week later, on June 14, and that's when Grizzle made a police report charging Killian with theft of the forklift, compressor and trailer.

"Sgt. Edward Grizzle did not have probable cause to believe that plaintiff had committed theft of the forklift, compressor or trailer," his lawsuit states.

In this week's trial, the city of Joliet was successfully defended by one of its long-time private law firms, attorneys Michael Bersani, David Mathues and Ahmed Kosoko, of the Itasca-based Hervas, Condon and Bersani. On Oct. 1, Joliet's outside counsel filed a motion asking Judge Hunt to prohibit Killian from introducing improper character evidence against Sgt. Grizzle.

"Killian should not be permitted to inject unrelated disciplinary records or other suits against into this case. This evidence is irrelevant under Federal Rule of Evidence 401, and its risk of unfair prejudice substantially outweighs its probative value under Federal Rule of Evidence 403," attorney Mathues argued in his motion.

He also asked Judge Hunt to bar Killian's "hearsay and speculation-based political conspiracy theories" from being introduced during the upcoming jury trial.

"One variant of Killian’s political conspiracy theory is that he was targeted because Joliet’s City Manager at the time of Killian’s arrest didn’t like Killian’s wife, who also worked for the City of Joliet at the time," Mathues wrote in his filing. "But Killian has not disclosed anything beyond his own speculative hearsay that would support this theory. He did not disclose his wife or the then-City Manager, Mr. Capparelli, as witnesses. He has not disclosed any documents that would support such a theory. All he has is his own statements that Sgt. Grizzle allegedly told people that an unspecified 'they' at City Hall didn’t like Killian’s wife, and testimony from administrative assistant Andrea Sinchak-Cap that Killian himself told Cap that City Manager Capparelli didn't like Killian’s wife. He has no basis for these hearsay statements about Capparelli’s mind, and certainly nothing to connect that alleged state of mind with his own arrest.

"Another variant of this theory is that then-City Manager Capparelli did not like Killian. According to this theory, when Capparelli tried to shut down the Tri-County Auto Theft Task Force where Killian and Grizzle both worked, Killian rallied support for TCAT.

"This led to Capparelli’s plan flopping and Capparelli’s ire at Killian because 'I didn’t make him look very good.' But again, this is nothing more than speculation about Capparelli’s mind, and further speculation whether Capparelli somehow influenced Grizzle’s actions regarding the subject matter of this case."

However, on Oct. 2, Judge Hunt rejected Joliet's motions, informing the lawyers that their pretrial motions were overdue, and submitted past the Sept. 22 deadline she set months ago.

Incidentally, in spite of his Joliet police arrest in the summer of 2022, prosecutors never filed any criminal charges against Killian in either Will or Kendall Counties. Killian lives in rural Kendall County.

“We are pleased with both the court’s and the jury’s decisions, which confirm that the city and its officers acted lawfully and appropriately,” said City of Joliet Interim Corporation Counsel Todd Lenzie in Friday's press release. “This outcome reflects the City’s commitment to upholding constitutional protections while supporting the integrity of our law enforcement personnel.”