Chicago police officer Joseph Cappello IV, has filed a defamation lawsuit against CBS News Corp., Chicago television news reporter Dave Savini, and other associated defendants.
The lawsuit, which was filed Dec. 20 in Cook County Circuit Court, claims the defendants published and disseminated allegedly false statements accusing Cappello of professional misconduct, excessive force, and violations of protocol during a botched raid at a Chicago apartment in 2017.
Cappello claims the allegedly actionable reports published by the defendants allegedly followed their acquisition of video recorded testimony rendered by Cappello during a deposition as part of a lawsuit brought against the city of Chicago by the Mendez family, who were allegedly caught up in the alleged botched raid.
"Defendants accuse Cappello of failing to follow departmental protocol, improperly pointing a gun at children, and being guilty of misconduct and excessive force. None of these statements were based on truthful or accurate facts," the lawsuit said. "Instead, the Defendants’ accusations were based on a compilation of lies, half-truths, manufactured information, and/or the intentional omission and avoidance of truthful information about the facts leading up to the Mendez raid and (the city's) investigation thereafter."
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of defamation and seeks more than $1 million in damages.
Cappello filed the lawsuit himself, and is not represented by an attorney.