MEARDAY FILES LAWSUIT IN POLICE-BEATING CASE

A lawyer for Jeremiah Mearday filed a personal-injury lawsuit Tuesday in
Cook County Circuit Court against the City of Chicago and two former
Grand-Central District police officers who Mearday accused of police
brutality last year.

The suit filed by attorney Michael Mahoney against the city, James Comito
Jr. and Matthew Thiel seeks money for personal and financial injuries the
19-year-old has suffered since the beating on Sept. 26, 1997.

Both police officers were dismissed in March after a public hearing before
the Chicago Police Board. The two men had been suspended shortly after
Mearday, then 18, alleged that his jaw had been broken and he had been
beaten by the officers in the 1300 block of North Pulaski Road.

The suit details the events Mearday says took place the night he was beaten.
It alleges that Comito and Thiel stopped Mearday even though they had no
reason to believe Mearday had committed a crime and beat him on the head
with flashlights. After the beating, the suit states, the officers drove
Mearday to a fire station to treat his injuries.

The police officers said Mearday, who was charged with resisting arrest and
battery against the two officers, hit one of them and struggled as he was
being arrested. Those charges were dropped by Cook County State's Atty.
Richard Devine earlier this year.

Comito and Thiel are contesting their firings before Circuit Judge Lester
Foreman, who is conducting an administrative review of the Police Board's
action.

Since last year, Mearday, who had pleaded guilty to drug possession in 1996,
has continued to have run-ins with the police.

Just a week after the Police Board voted to dismiss Comito and Thiel,
Mearday was charged with aggravated battery against three police officers as
well as resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance. Earlier
this month, police arrested Mearday on charges of riding in a stolen car and
possession of marijuana.

The highly publicized case was part of a probe by the U.S. Justice
Department of police brutality in Chicago.

Neither Mearday's lawyer nor Paul Geiger, who represented Comito and Thiel
at their hearing before the Police Board, could be reached for comment
Tuesday.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst