Report: Ex-Mokena Firefighter Files Lawsuit Against Frankfort Police Officer, Village

An ex-Mokena firefighter filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday against the  and the officer who the suit claims cost him his job after arresting him for public intoxication last year, the Chicago Tribune reports .

The lawsuit claims the village’s public intoxication ordinance is unconstitutional, the report stated. .

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Justin Haskett, of Blue Island, was celebrating his engagement to his girlfriend at her Frankfort home last June when Haskett's sister called police to report damage to her parked car, the report said. Haskett was arrested when he began criticizing the responding officer, according to the report. Richard Dvoark, Haksett's lawyer, told the Tribune:

This officer really took a personal grudge and turned it into a criminal arrest without any probable cause and this essentially destroyed my client’s life.

Because he was a probationary firefighter in his first year with the Mokena Fire Protection District, Haskett, of Blue Island, was fired when officials heard about the arrest, the report said. However, a Will County judge dismissed the charges in November, saying prosecutors hadn't proven their case, the report continued.

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