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News
Lawsuit a sign of 'legal system abuse'? : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisLawsuit a sign of 'legal system abuse'?
| Sheriff says description of Wal-Mart incident 'outrageous and completely untrue'
| by Kathy Farren
| 2/28/2013
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Kendall County Sheriff Richard Randall and Chief Deputy Scott Koster responded this week to a federal lawsuit filed against the county, calling it "one more example of legal system abuse."
The lawsuit, filed by a Boulder Hill couple, seeks in excess of $100,000 in damages on each of four counts stemming from an incident on Feb. 5, 2012 at the Wal-Mart store in Oswego.
Jason Thurmond and Nicole Healy-Thurmond are seeking damages for injuries they say they suffered as a result of what the suit calls Deputy Craig French's "physical and verbal brutality."
As a result of the incident, Thurmond was charged with battery and he filed a complaint with the Sheriff's Department about French's conduct. A Kendall County jury found Thurmond not guilty of the battery charge after deliberating for 50 minutes on Nov. 6.
The couple was in the checkout line and said that French insulted Nicole Healy-Thurmond. Jason Thurmond says he pushed French away from his wife, who was then nine months pregnant, and that French then pulled a gun.
A report issued by Oswego Police at the time of the incident said officers went to the store on Route 34 after a "fight in progress" was reported. The report said, "An off-duty police officer from another agency was battered by a patron at Wal-Mart and displayed his service weapon to make an arrest."
Randall called the allegations in the lawsuit "outrageous and completely untrue."
"The Kendall County Sheriff's Office conducted an exhaustive internal investigation into the incident and the complaints that Mr. Thurmond filed with our office, "Randall said. "Statements from independent witnesses that saw the entire event, from beginning to end, consistently contradict Mr. Thurmond's allegations."
Randall called the lawsuit "all about the money." He said, "This isn't about the truth or about justice for a victim."
Randall said that Thurmond made an offer to drop the suit for "just about $20,000."
"I was notified of the offer to settle this suit by Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis around the first of February. It's my understanding that the settlement offer came to State's Attorney Weis from attorneys representing Jason and Nicole Thurmond," Randall said.
"Mr. Thurmond and his attorneys know that it will cost at least $100,000 for Kendall County to fight the suit, and are betting on that fact to push Kendall County and the Sheriff's Office to settle for much less," Koster said. Ultimately this is a grab for a quick $20,000 from the taxpayers of Kendall County."
The Thurmonds' suit also says that the county has a policy of concealing and suppressing reports of officer misconduct on and off duty and has a "code of silence" on officer misconduct.
Randall called those allegations "ludicrous."
"Detectives spent hundreds of man hours documenting and investigating Mr. Thurmond's complaint," Randall said. "The investigation was monitored and reviewed by supervisors and command staff at every level, and I personally provided Mr. Thurmond with written notice of my findings on the matter. Mr. Thurmond was offered an opportunity to meet with me to review the investigation and he declined to do so."
Koster stated, "As part of an extensive internal investigation into this incident, senior Sheriff's Office investigators interviewed 18 witnesses, reviewed 911 recordings from both KenCom and Kane County emergency dispatch centers and obtained security camera footage from the Oswego Wal-Mart store."
Koster added, "None of the independent witnesses interviewed supported allegations made by Jason Thurmond in his complaint to the Sheriff's Office and subsequent lawsuit, that French used hostile, vulgar or threatening language towards Nicole Thurmond, or that French acted in a physically threatening, or intimidating manner toward Nicole or Jason Thurmond. Witnesses that saw the entire incident consistently reported that Thurmond was the physical aggressor, and that he pushed, or struck, French."
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