Four veteran police officers are suing the village of Dolton, the mayor and police chief of Dolton and two village trustees, alleging unlawful retaliation.
Ronald Burge Sr., Ronald Burge Jr., Lewis Lacey and Paul Ganier filed a lawsuit Aug. 28 in Cook County Circuit Court against the village of Dolton, Mayor Riley Rogers, Police Chief John Franklin, and Dolton trustees Catherine Bendell and Robert Pierson. All are sued individually and in their professional roles.
According to the complaint, after Rogers was elected mayor of Dolton in April 2013, he ordered the termination of Burge Sr. and Burge Jr., demoted Lacey and reassigned Ganier to the midnight shift, all allegedly in retaliation for an April 2013 incident when Rogers' campaign truck was ticketed by the plaintiffs for illegal parking.
Bendell and Pierson are named as defendants for failing to stop the alleged retaliation.
The plaintiffs seek a jury trial, reinstatement to their former positions, compensatory and punitive damages and litigation costs. They are represented by attorney Jed Stone of Jed Stone & Associates in Waukegan.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 2015-L-008833.