From staff reports
Crestwood trustees voted last week to approve a $1.8 million settlement in a civil rights lawsuit filed by five former village police officers against the village, former mayor, the chief of police and several other high-ranking village police officials.
Former part-time officers Don Preston, Joseph Cortesi, Gilbert Hueramo III and Eric Chmura; and full-time officer Robert Hoselton, filed a federal lawsuit alleging they were fired or not reappointed, forced to resign, or brought up on disciplinary charges within days of each other in October 2019 because of their efforts to unionize the village’s police officers. They filed suit against Chief of Police David Weigand, Deputy Chief David Alexander, Lt. Rich Wyman, Lt. Chris Spencer, Sgt. Michael Coutre, former Crestwood Mayor Lou Presta, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, and current or former Commissioners Rob Lyons, Frank Caldario, Joseph Zangara and James Fowler.
In 2019, members of the police department sought to unionize the part-time and full-time officers. On Aug. 1, 2019, the Illinois Labor Relations Board certified the Illinois Council of Police (ICOPS) as the exclusive bargaining unit for the part-time officers.
The lawsuit alleged the village and the other defendants engaged in a campaign of intimidation, threats and coercion against Preston, Cortesi, Hueramo, Chmura, Hoselton, and other village police officers in an effort to “bust” the union and intimidate officers who supported the union. Three months after the union was certified, Preston, Cortesi, Hueramo and Chmura were either terminated, forced to resign or not re-appointed, and Hoselton was brought up on disciplinary charges and later terminated by the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.
The lawsuit, Don Preston et al. v. David Weigand et al., Case No. 20-CV-4272, was filed in the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois. At the time of settlement, no trial date had been scheduled.
Preston, Cortesi, Hueramo, Chmura and Hoselton were represented by Laura L. Scarry of DeAno & Scarry LLC, Chicago.
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