A Chicago man shot by police last year in northwest suburban Palatine is suing the village of Palatine, the city of Rolling Meadows and several police officers.
Michael A. Douglas filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court and alleges police assaulted him, used excessive force and falsely arrested him on June 20, 2016.
Officers were conducting a drug investigation that night in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 500 block of North Quentin Road in Palatine, according to a statement from Palatine police.
When officers attempted to take Douglas into custody, he accelerated forward at them, police said. An officer fired at Douglas, striking him in his leg. Douglas then drove off, but was taken into custody in the 1400 block of Winslow Drive in Palatine.
Officers from the Rolling Meadows Police Department also participated in the shooting, according to the suit. Douglas said he was sitting in a vehicle in the 1400 block of Winslow when officers from both departments approached him with their guns drawn and he was shot.
Douglas said he was unarmed and had not committed any crime at the time he was shot, according to the suit. He seeks unspecified damages from the municipalities and their officers.
Douglas, of Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, was taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights after being shot, and later released into police custody and charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and unlawful delivery of marijuana, all felonies, police said.
Douglas remains in the custody of the Cook County sheriff’s office on Wednesday, according to records.
Representatives for Palatine and Rolling Meadows did not reply to a request for comment Wednesday night.