CITY, POLICE GO ON TRIAL FOR RESPONSE AT 2002 RAVE PARTY

RACINE - The city of Racine and several police officers go to trial today
for alleged police abuses at a rave-like party in 2002.

The trial is the culmination of a lawsuit filed by Jason Witheril. The suit
asks for monetary damages, and it's a suit that could have been avoided if
the city had agreed to a cash settlement deal last summer.

Alderman Pete Karas voted at a City Council meeting last summer to pay a
proposed cash settlement, but the rest of the council was opposed, he said.
Karas thought that settling the case for an undisclosed amount could avoid
a potentially costly lawsuit.

"I just thought our upside potential, considering this is a civil rights
case, is huge," Karas said. "If Witheril gets $1 in damages, the city has
to pay all his attorney fees because it's a civil rights case."

Fourth Amendment The civil rights aspect relates to the Fourth Amendment of
the Constitution, which guarantees people may be secure against
unreasonable searches and seizures. A violation of this rule is considered
a civil rights violation.

Witheril's attorney, Jill Packman of Milwaukee, will argue at trial today
that Racine police used excessive force and violated her client's Fourth
Amendment civil rights. She is asking for a cash award.

Witheril was at the party that ran late Nov. 2 and early Nov. 3, 2002. He
was in a restroom stall when uniformed Racine police officers kicked in the
stall door and arrested him. Witheril claims police violated his civil
rights - his right to privacy in a restroom stall, his right to attend a
large event, and his right not to be unreasonably searched and arrested.

Tradewinds Village In the lawsuit, Witheril claims he went to an electronic
music party at the Tradewinds Village, 1518 Washington Ave., on Nov. 2,
2002. Police, acting on a tip that the party was a rave and there was drug
use going on, staged a raid.

Witheril was in a restroom stall when police kicked in the stall door,
yanked him out, threw him to the floor and held a gun to his head,
according to his complaint. He claims he was handcuffed, forced to wait an
hour inside the Tradewinds Village, another two hours at the police
prisoner wagon outside, and three more hours at the Racine County Jail.

Drug charge Witheril said police issued him a municipal citation for
possession of marijuana. They found two marijuana cigarettes on the
bathroom floor in the stall where he had been.

Packman said police used unreasonable and excessive force when they
detained Witheril. Just holding the gun to his head constituted deadly
force, she said, citing a federal court ruling.

In their response to the lawsuit, filed three weeks later, police denied
putting a gun to Witheril's head, or to giving him a municipal citation for
drug possession. Police said they arrested and charged him criminally for
possession of marijuana.

Witheril filed a complaint about the arrest with the Racine Police and Fire
Commission. When he was questioned by the Police Department's Internal
Affairs division, Witheril admitted he was scared, wasn't sure if all the
officers had their guns and that he didn't see the gun put to his head
because his eyes were closed, according to police reports. Witheril said he
felt the gun touch his jaw.

Packman said there's a lot about the Police Department's version of what
happened that doesn't add up. She said various police reports on the raid
don't always include the same information.

"It's really unclear from the reports who did what," Packman said.

The trial is scheduled to run today and Tuesday before Judge Charles
Constantine in the Racine County Courthouse.

When the city of Racine dismissed more than 400 municipal citations it had
given people for attending the 2002 rave-like party, it was to head off a
possible class-action civil rights lawsuit.

In return for that, and other steps taken by the city, the American Civil
Liberties Union agreed not to bring or help bring such a lawsuit against
the city.

Jason Witheril was not part of that deal.