Wisconsin Convict Suing Walworth County For Drunk Incident- Then Stealing Patrol Car
(Published Thursday, November 17, 2005 11:04:28 AM CST)

 
By Mike Heine
Gazette Staff

ELKHORN -- A convicted felon has filed his sixth lawsuit against Walworth County officials for alleged wrongdoing.

Larry A. Piatek, formerly of Janesville, is suing two Walworth County law enforcement officers-sheriff's deputy Steve Adamson and East Troy patrolman Craig Knox-who Piatek claims beat him up during a routine traffic stop outside East Troy in 2002.

Walworth County Sheriff David Graves and Town of East Troy Police Chief Jim Sturges are also named in the civil suit because they allegedly failed to "remedy the wrong" by not disciplining the officers, Piatek claims.

The claims are similar to the defense Piatek and his attorneys put forth at his criminal trial. 

Twelve jurors found Piatek, 48, guilty of 11 charges, including two counts of battery to a police officer, taking a vehicle without consent, fleeing police and escape. He is serving a 26-year prison sentence at Waupun Correctional Institution.

According to court testimony and Gazette articles recounting the events of Aug. 30, 2003, Piatek resisted the officers, beat them with his fists and then fled by stealing a squad car.

The officers physically retaliated and used pepper spray, which had little effect. They said it was a fight for their lives as Piatek attempted to remove Adamson's gun from its holster.

Piatek was originally pulled over by Knox on suspicion of drunken driving, a charge of which he was acquitted because his blood alcohol level of 0.078 percent was below the legal limit for driving.

In his opening and closing statements of the April 2004 trial, District Attorney Phil Koss detailed the events and repeated several of Piatek's statements made to either offi cers or people he spoke to on a Walworth County jail phone.

"I know I (expletive) up, and I deserved what I got," Piatek said while in custody, according to trial records.

The list of Piatek's recorded comments went on:

"Then, you know, I just am stupid sometimes."

"It's wrong, you know, I mean I made a mistake. I can't really say too much about it."

"Well, I am nuts sometimes, OK."

Piatek didn't offer an explanation as to those comments in his mostly handwritten lawsuit, which was filed Nov. 3 in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee.

But Piatek, acting as his own attorney, offers a different version of what police and the district attorney say happened and what a jury believed happened. He admits to being pulled over but said the situation deteriorated when he refused to let officers search his vehicle. The officers wouldn't show him the results of a Breathalyzer test. Then they allegedly threw him to the ground, sprayed him with pepper spray and kicked him in the face.

The officers used "excessive force," which was "done in a malicious and sadistic manner," Piatek's complaint reads.

Piatek said he never resisted. By using "defensive actions," including grabbing one officer by his testicles, Piatek was able to save himself from "further injury and possibly death," his complaint reads.

He was "cognizant to the fact that if he did not flee, these individuals might kill him," the complaint continues, which is why he sped away in a police car. He made it several miles south on Interstate 43 before crashing into a ditch along Highway 11.

Piatek claims all of the injuries he sustained were allegedly at the hands of the officers, including a fractured orbital bone around his right eye. The injury has allegedly led to permanent blindness in his right eye.

Authorities originally said the severe eye injury happened when Piatek crashed the stolen squad. However, it was stipulated in court that Piatek might have sustained the eye injury and other injuries during the struggle with officers.

The traffic stop was never videotaped or witnessed by anyone other than Piatek, Knox and Adamson.

A federal judge was asked to review the matter and determine if Piatek is entitled to the compensatory and punitive damages he seeks. Piatek asked the judge to determine a fair amount.

Piatek is considering appealing his criminal convictions related to the matter, said defense attorney Margaret Maroney, an appellate attorney with the public defender's office. A motion to appeal the convictions was not filed as of press time.

Graves declined to comment about the case because it is an open court matter. Walworth County's defense attorney Emily Olson did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

A defense response to Piatek's complaint was not yet filed. No further court action has been scheduled.

Piatek has filed five previous lawsuits against county officials relating to allegedly poor medical treatment he received while in custody at Walworth County Jail. Two of the suits were settled with the jail's contracted health care provider, and three are still pending, according to online federal court records.
 

Back