Lockport Man Shot by Joliet Cops Goes on Trial For Assault and Battery

A jury was picked Monday for a Lockport man charged with trying to run over two Joliet police officers.

James Pacheco, 38, was shot five times by the police, according to a lawsuit he filed against the City of Joliet, two officers he identified by name and other officers whose names he does not know.

The cops went looking for Pacheco in July 2012 after dispatchers received a call that he had broken out the windows of a pickup truck parked on Union Street.

Pacheco was reportedly pulled over on Washington Street near Melchoir Court, but as officers approached his Nissan Maxima, he took off.

A train blocking a railroad crossing halted Pacheco’s flight, police said, and officers again got out to walk up to his car. But Pacheco allegedly pulled a U-turn and drove right at them. One of the officers reportedly opened fire as he dodged Pacheco’s car. The law then continued chasing Pacheco until he crashed into a light pole in Lockport.

In his federal lawsuit, Pacheco claims the police refused to tell him why he was being stopped and — when he did not immediately exit his car — one officer “yelled get out of the car you piece of s--- and fired seven shots into (his) vehicle.”

“James was struck by five of those shots and, fearing for his life, drove around the officers and proceeded to drive back to his home,” the federal complaint says.