Man charged with heroin possession accuses Chicago police officers of illegal detainment, malicious prosecution

A man is suing over claims Chicago police officers illegally detained and falsely and maliciously accused of him of drug possession.

Jeffrey Bell filed a lawsuit April 4 in the Cook County Circuit Court against the City of Chicago and police officers Arkadiusz Pachnik and Christoph Cannata.

According to the complaint,  Pachnik and Cannata stopped Bell, who was walking on North Lamon Street in Chicago, on April 4, 2013, when they searched him without probable cause.

Bell claims he was then falsely arrested and charged with heroin possession stemming after the officers' provided allegedly false complaints and testimony.

He further alleges that until the case was decided in his favor, he was held in the jails of Cook and Dewitt counties for more than five months, during which time he was subject to strip searches, contracted lice and scabies, feared for his life, lost a tooth, found bugs in his food and lost his part-time job.

Bell is seeking more than $100,000 in damages and is being represented in the case by attorney Deidre Baumann of Baumann & Shuldiner.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L003871.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.