Thread: IL: Waukegan sued by an illegal yet again/protest planned

WHOOPS -I think we posted this at the exact same time!!


Family plans protest, sues Waukegan cop

(http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S1.article)

February 24, 2007

By RYAN PAGELOW RPAGELOW@SCN1.COM

WAUKEGAN -- Friends of an uninsured, undocumented immigrant from Waukegan who died in an accident with a city squad car are planning to protest in front of the Lake County Building at 8 a.m. Monday.

The family of Wilson "Alex" Lopez-Ochoa has sued a Waukegan police officer, Michael Newman, and the city for wrongful death of their relative in the 2005 accident. Lopez's brother, Rolando, was appointed by the court to act as the special administrator of his estate.

Representatives of both parties were scheduled to meet for informal arbitration on Monday, but it was canceled Friday, said Lopez's attorney, Larry Ruder. The civil lawsuit is scheduled for a jury trial March 12 before Judge Mary Schostok, Ruder said.

Organizers of the protest claim the police officer involved in the accident was never charged although he was speeding and did not have his flashing lights or siren on at the time of the crash.

"We just want to bring attention to the case and send a strong message that we haven't forgotten about it and we're closely monitoring it," said Margaret Carrasco, an activist with Casa Mexiquense in Waukegan.

Originally from Honduras, Lopez-Ochoa did not have a valid driver's license or insurance. He had a driver's license and insurance through an assumed name, which police said he used for employment purposes. Under his real name he had two tickets for disobeying a traffic control device.

Citing pending litigation, a police spokesperson declined Friday to comment on the case.

Lopez-Ochoa, 21, died Feb. 7, 2005, at St. Therese Medical Center in Waukegan, a few hours after an accident with the squad car at 10:15 p.m. Feb. 6. The squad car was traveling 40 mph -- 10 mph over the speed limit -- when it struck Lopez-Ochoa's vehicle as he exited a laundromat parking lot at 1819 Grand Ave.

A Lake County coroner's jury in April 2005 ruled that Lopez-Ochoa's cause of death was multiple traumatic injuries from blunt force trauma following the accident. The jury was instructed to rule the death either accidental, a homicide, a suicide or undetermined. It ruled his death undetermined.
__________________________________________________ _________

I can't tell you how much 'trouble' and lawsuits one Margaret Carrasco has brought to Waukegan. I'll go before work to see if I see the protest. Maybe there is time to work up a counter protest. The man should NEVER have been driving on our roads.

Comments?

Yours stays fedup. You're the one living in the insanity there.

If the man had not been on the road illlegally he would be alive, plain and simple, this is BS and needs to stop, these people are getting to sue happy in our country!!

What about all the Americans killed in chases between the cops and criminals? All these people should sue the criminals causing the chases!

These people are reeking havoc in peoples lives and then in turn sue to totally destroy people lives while they just do what they darned well please. They just love the law when it suits them and ignore it the rest of the time.

I went to see the 'protest.' It was a few people holding a sign and walking around the city block. A local nbc/telemundo camera truck was there -so film may be going somewhere. The 'march' started with a handful of somber people and then a few folks carrying little American flags joined as they walk continued. Read my post about it.

http://www.waukegan.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6450

http://www.waukegan.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6458


'We are tired of so much harassment' Angry Hispanics protest mistreatment by police

(http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S1.article)

February 27, 2007

BY NICHOLAS P. ALAJAKIS nalajakis@scn1.com

Wilmer Meza had enough about two years ago. Enough of the profiling, enough of the abuse and enough unfair treatment.

So he decided to do something about it -- he moved.

In 2005, Meza moved his family from Waukegan to Round Lake, citing mistreatment by the city's police because of the color of his skin.

He returned on Monday to speak out against that treatment at a rally honoring a 21-year-old friend who was killed two years ago this month when his car was struck by a Waukegan police squad car.

"I think this is important for everyone, because if we don't stop (the mistreatment), things are going to keep happening," Meza said.

Meza was one of about two dozen protesters in downtown Waukegan Monday. They gathered to honor Wilson "Alex" Lopez-Ochoa, a former Waukegan resident of Honduran descent who died Feb. 7, 2005.

Lopez-Ochoa, an uninsured, undocumented immigrant, was struck by the squad car of Waukegan Officer Michael Newman as he exited a laundromat parking lot in the 1800 block of Grand Avenue.

Organizers of the protest are angered that Newman was never charged in the accident, despite the fact that he was traveling 10 miles over the speed limit and without his lights or sirens.

But Monday's gathering was more than a complaint about a traffic accident. It was a chance for residents to voice concern about what they say is continued mistreatment by Waukegan police. They are concerned with constantly being pulled over, and not being treated with respect by police.

"We are tired of so much harassment (toward) the Hispanic community," said Waukegan resident Wilber Matute, who was Lopez-Ochoa's soccer coach. "(Police) are being unfair."

Matute, a fellow Honduran, held a megaphone at the protest and led chants of "justice for all" and "justice for Alex."

The protestors hoped to hold Waukegan police and Mayor Richard Hyde accountable for mistreatment of Hispanics, Meza said.

When Lopez-Ochoa died, Meza said that some pointed to the fact that he had no driver's license as the reason for his death. That sort of thinking is unfair, he said, because the squad car caused the accident.

"Alex was a guy with no problems. Alex was a human being," Matute said. "You need to have more respect for a human being."

A trial is scheduled to begin next month in the wrongful-death suit brought by Lopez-Ochoa's family against Newman and the city.

How large is your town, fedupinwaukegan. Have you considered forming a protest group of your own?

This letter should be sent to your mayor, as a reminder of how much illegals really do cost the city!

Again, they have big mouths to protest in the US, but too cowardly to demand change in their own countries.

Waukegan needs to file a class action law suit against mexico for all the killing its criminal citizens have done while illegally in our country. without laws you have chaos, that is what these criminals bring with them.