A former Mokena firefighter who was arrested and charged with public intoxication while celebrating his engagement is suing a Frankfort police officer and the village for allegedly costing him his job.
Justin Haskett, 26, proposed to his girlfriend at her Frankfort home in front of friends and family in June when Haskett's sister called village police to report that her parked car had been damaged, according to the federal lawsuit filed Thursday.
When Haskett criticized how the responding officer was handling the situation, the officer arrested him under a public intoxication ordinance the village adopted in February 2011, said Haskett's attorney, Richard Dvorak.
"This officer really took a personal grudge and turned it into a criminal arrest without any probable cause, and this essentially destroyed my client's life," Dvorak said.
Haskett was in his first probationary year of employment as a firefighter-paramedic in Mokena, Dvorak said. The Blue Island resident was fired after his bosses saw the arrest notice in a local newspaper, Dvorak said.
"Once they found out about the arrest, they immediately fired him," Dvorak said.
In November, the Will County judge hearing the ordinance violation case found that prosecutors hadn't proved their case and dismissed the charges, according to Dvorak and records.
The lawsuit against Frankfort and the officer alleges that the village's public intoxication ordinance, which carries a maximum penalty of a $500 fine, is "clearly unconstitutional."
Haskett is now working part time as a firefighter-paramedic in Country Club Hills. The couple, trying to save money after he lost his Mokena job, have delayed their wedding until next year, Dvorak said.
Frankfort's village administrator said Friday that he couldn't comment and hadn't seen the lawsuit.
Copyright 2012 - Chicago Tribune
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
