Motorcyclist Claims|Officer Went Wild

CHICAGO (CN) - A Maywood police officer purposely ran over a motorcyclist with his squad car, then smashed the man's face repeatedly into concrete, the man claims in Federal Court.

Jorge Velez sued the Village of Maywood and its police Officer H. Matais aka Hector Matias. (The officer's last name is spelled both ways in the complaint.)

Velez says he was riding his motorcycle in suburban Maywood when Matais "began to give chase to the motor bike being operated by the plaintiff, Jorge Velez, for reasons unbeknownst to Jorge Velez."

The complaint states: "The crux of this action is that the defendant, H. Matais, Star No. 288 aka Hector Matias with full force and assault and without any cause or justification ran his Maywood Police Department vehicle into the motor bike being operated by the plaintiff, Jorge Velez, causing the plaintiff severe and disabling physical injuries. After running the plaintiff's vehicle into the ground the defendant, H. Matais, Sat No. 288 aka Hector Matias, repeatedly smashed the plaintiff's face into the ground."

Velez says that Matias signed a criminal complaint against him, but all charges were dropped after the prosecutors watched a video of the event captured on a neighbor's security camera.

Velez also accuses Maywood of failing to properly train its officers or discipline police misconduct, "including the use of tactics described as 'pay back', concerning certain members of the community who the officers believed were either engaged in criminal activity or who belonged to a 'street gang'."

He seeks punitive damages for excessive force, battery, and malicious prosecution.

He is represented by Donald Angelini Jr.

Maywood, pop. 25,000, a western suburb of Chicago, is 74 percent African-American and 21 percent Hispanic, according to city-data.com.

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