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COOK COUNTY RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Former police officer sues Berwyn, alleging defamatory statements in newspaper

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A former Berwyn police officer who filed a civil rights lawsuit against his employer is now suing for defamation against the employer and its spokesman, alleging false statements published in a newspaper story.

Loren Buchmeier filed suit Sept. 2, 2015, in Cook County Circuit Court against his employer, the city of Berwyn, the city’s spokesman David Ormsby and his firm, David Ormsby Public Relations Illinois, the Chicago Sun-Times, Sun-Times Media, Sun-Times parent company Wrapports, and LiveLeak.com.

Exactly one year earlier, on Sept. 2, 2014, Buchmeier filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Berwyn, its police department and officials, claiming city officials had conspired to stop him and a fellow Berwyn police officer from pressing charges against purported friends of Berwyn's mayor who had allegedly assaulted them in a tavern, allegedly inflicting injuries severe enough for Buchmeier to require hospitalization. That federal case was dismissed in July 2015.

In an article published in the Sun-Times on Sept. 3, 2014, Ormsby is quoted as saying the lawsuit was a “shakedown” of taxpayers. The article in question also appeared on the website LiveLeak.com. The plaintiff alleges the quote was published intentionally to hurt his reputation.

Buchmeier  seeks damages of more than $50,000 and litigation costs. He is represented by attorneys Joseph L. Ponsetto and Peter M. DeLongis of the Law Offices of Peter M. Delongis in Oak Brook Terrace.

Cook County Circuit Court case number 2015-L-009017.

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