Peterson's True Colors Slowing Shining Through

The Bolingbrook Sun
man says PETERSON broke his thumb
FEDERAL LAWSUIT
December 19, 2007
By JOE HOSEY Staff Writer

BOLINGBROOK -- Peterson says he wasn't even working when Timothy Brownlee's thumb was broken. Brownlee, 35, a barber working in Joliet, filed suit against Peterson and two other unidentified Bolingbrook cops, accusing them of excessive force, assault and battery, failure to intervene, false arrest, conspiracy, malicious prosecution and committing a hate crime.

The way Brownlee tells it, this tale of handbreak started innocently enough with a Memorial Day cookout he held at his home. "My next-door neighbor, he's really not a big fan of kids," Brownlee said, recalling how he cautioned children at his get-together to stay away from the neighbor while he went to the store to get cigarettes. By the time Brownlee returned, the police were at his house. An officer checked his identification and the police left after ordering everyone to "get along," Brownlee said.

But a half hour later, the police returned, Brownlee said, and accused him of misrepresenting his identity. They then took him into custody. "I had on my pajamas, some shower shoes and a tank top," Brownlee said of his attire when he was taken into custody.

On the way to the police station, Brownlee said the officer called him a nigger and told him he didn't belong in Bolingbrook. "He said when we get to the police station, he's going to kick my Ass," Brownlee said.

Alarmed, Brownlee tried to use his cell phone to call one of his two brothers who work as officers with the Chicago Police Department. The call went straight to voice mail, he said, but the cop driving the car heard him and said, "I think this guy's recording me."

Brownlee said he was hauled out of the squad car by the handcuffs. He was then taken to the station. There, he said, police took away his pajama pants and shower shoes, leaving him with nothing on but a tank top. He says police later returned his pajama pants but ordered him to walk barefoot out of his cell.

When he hesitated they set to beating him. "They drug me out," he said. "They were hollering, 'Stop resisting.' I said, 'I'm not resisting.' That's when Sgt. Peterson grabbed my thumb."

Prochut claims otherwise. "It was not Drew Peterson, and we have videotape evidence to back this up," the commander said. Deny, deny, deny..

The lawsuit says Brownlee was charged with obstructing justice and disorderly conduct and that the charges later were dropped.

Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said it was unlikely he would handle the civil matter for the embattled former police sergeant. But he did find the allegations consistent with others lodged against his client. "It's just another example of another debunked Elvis sighting," Brodsky said.

What reason did they really have to arrest this guy? This is harassment, plain and simple.

He's comparing himself to Elvis?