EXCESSIVE FORCE LAWSUIT HEADED TO TRIAL

RACINE - Jason Witheril was in the restroom when Racine police raided
the rave-like party he was attending in November 2002.

He was about to leave the restroom stall when police kicked in the
door, his attorney said. They yanked him out of the stall, threw him
to the ground and held him there, at gunpoint, for close to 10 minutes.

That's the basis for a personal injury lawsuit that Witheril filed
against numerous Racine police officers and the city of Racine last
year.

"It's primarily excessive force," said Milwaukee attorney Jill
Packman, who is representing Witheril.

The Racine City Council's Finance Committee discussed Witheril's
lawsuit in closed session on Monday. The committee voted to recommend
that the full council reject the settlement proposal.

Alderman Tom Friedel, chairman of the Finance Committee, declined to
comment on specifics of the case or the proposed settlement.

"It's not in anyone's interest to argue in public," Friedel said.
"We'll take it to court, where it will be argued in public there."

Packman said she didn't know what the city's intentions were, but said
she was still willing to negotiate a settlement.

Witheril was one of more than 400 people who were at a Haunted
Halloween party at the Tradewinds Banquet Hall, 1518 Washington Ave.,
on Nov. 2, 2002. Police, acting on a tip from a U.S. Customs officer
of potential drug activity, raided the party.

Everyone at the party was cited for being patrons of a disorderly
house - citations originally were $968 each. As batches of party-goers
made their appearances in municipal court, however, the city of Racine
kept lowering that amount as an incentive for people to plead guilty.
The city, facing a threatened class action civil rights lawsuit,
eventually dismissed all the citations in early 2003.

Before the citations were dismissed, many who had been at the party
took the city's offer of a lower fine. Witheril didn't, Packman said.
He fought it.

Witheril filed the lawsuit against the city and the police officers in
October 2003. Four of the officers - Jorge Garcia, Pablo Guardiola,
Larry Ivy and Richard Rivers - are named. Those are the ones Packman
said they knew at the time had been part of the raid. The lawsuit also
names multiple John Does, for other police officers at the raid whose
names weren't known when the suit was filed.

Packman said Witheril was taken to the Racine Police Department in a
paddy wagon and kept there for hours. She said police tried to charge
him in connection with a bag of marijuana they found on the bathroom
floor, but that didn't stick.

She said Witheril has suffered because of the raid and his treatment
by police.

"This is a kid who's had chronic nightmares and sleeplessness,"
Packman said. "There was no need for it. He wasn't armed, he wasn't
any danger to the police officers. There was no evidence of any crime
committed."

The lawsuit is scheduled for trial on Nov. 15.