Attorneys for Ismael Haro filed the civil lawsuit June 24 in Cook County Circuit Court. The complaint seeks more than $50,000 in damages for alleged loss of income, inflection of emotional distress and violations of the Illinois Whistleblower Act.
The 33-page complaint names four defendants as individuals: state Reps. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, and Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Westchester; John Rita, the city’s former director of public safety and brother of Bob Rita; and ShawnTe Raines, an attorney who formerly worked for the city and who is married to Welch.
The complaint alleges that the four engaged in a three-part plan to try to get Haro fired from the police department.
“This three-phase plan was an attempt by defendants to avoid the appearance that plaintiff was being treated more harshly than other employees of the police department and to cover up their retaliation against plaintiff,” according to the complaint.
Through a spokesman, Bob Rita declined comment on the new lawsuit. Raines and Welch did not immediately respond Tuesday to requests for comment. Efforts to reach John Rita were unsuccessful.
Haro was a detective who investigated an alleged cover-up that protected a suspect in the
In 2015, the boy’s mother filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, claiming police stonewalled an investigation that identified the truck’s driver. In January, the city agreed to pay the mother $950,000 to settle the suit, but denied any wrongdoing or liability.
In 2014, Haro filed a whistleblower suit in Cook County against the city and two police supervisors, claiming they retaliated against him for pursuing an investigation into the Silva case. The lawsuit remains pending, and evidence uncovered in that case led to the new complaint, according to the suit.
“Throughout the course of the underlying lawsuit, Haro I, defendants and others deliberately hid defendants John Rita, Raines, Welch and Bob Rita’s involvement in the decisions to retaliate against plaintiff,” according to the new complaint.
Emails, witness testimony and other evidence in the first lawsuit revealed that John Rita and Raines participated in decisions about disciplinary actions taken against Haro and other Blue Island employees, the suit claims. They previously had denied they were involved in disciplinary matters, according to the suit.
“In the underlying litigation, plaintiff continues to learn about disciplinary documents that defendants Raines and John Rita, and other agents of the city of Blue Island, have withheld from production, in concert with other defendants in this and the underlying case in an attempt to conceal evidence showing that plaintiff was singled out and retaliated against,” according to the complaint.
In 2014-15, Haro was issued two back-to-back suspensions of 90 days and another seven-day suspension and also took a medical leave due to the stress of the retaliation, according to the lawsuit.
The first part of the “three-phase” plan to terminate Haro’s employment allegedly involved a conspiracy to manufacture falsified charges related to overtime pay Haro received, according to the complaint. The second phase involved Haro’s alleged mishandling of an internal investigation into another officer’s conduct, according to the suit.
The third phase involved an alleged “use of force” incident that Haro reported to his supervisor, who took no action, according to the complaint. The plan to target Haro for disciplinary action fell apart once it was discovered that he had acted properly by reporting the incident, according to the complaint.
The three incidents resulted in the suspensions, which the lawsuit claimed were unprecedented in Blue Island because they were imposed before an employee was able to pursue an appeal through the grievance process.
John Rita oversaw the Blue Island police and fire departments as director of public safety from 2013 to 2018, when Mayor Domingo Vargas eliminated the position.
Raines served as Blue Island’s “in-house counsel” until October 2017, when Vargas named Cary Horvath to serve as city attorney.
The lawsuit describes Bob Rita’s and Welch’s political careers as “intertwined” and tied to House Speaker Michael Madigan, who chairs the Democratic Party of Illinois. Bob Rita is Democratic Party committeeman for Calumet Township and also serves as township supervisor.
“Both have been devoted and loyal to Madigan, and Madigan has been loyal back,” according to the complaint.
A police officer testified in the initial Haro lawsuit that he observed Welch attend an “interrogation” of Haro during one of the disciplinary proceedings against him, according to the lawsuit.
Another police officer testified that he was assigned to interview an acquaintance of Bob Rita’s in 2010 about the
In another instance, the officer testified that he interviewed a relative of John and Bob Rita, following an alleged domestic incident in which a person was stabbed, according to the lawsuit. No charges were filed.
The officer testified that he believed he was retaliated against because he was reassigned back to patrol from an investigative unit.
“(John and Bob Rita were) essentially calling all the shots in the city,” the officer testified, according to the lawsuit. “It’s my opinion that, you know, they held a grudge for me for being the investigative officer on both of those incidents.”
In the Silva case, the suit claims police identified a person of interest as the truck driver soon after the boy’s death. The driver was dating a woman at the time who was related to a man who owned a business that had the exclusive towing contract with the Blue Island Police Department, according to the complaint.
The towing company owner supported Bob Rita and his political campaigns, according to the lawsuit.
An investigation revealed that the vehicle had been issued 12 parking tickets between 2003 and 2005 for having expired license plates and no city sticker, according to the complaint. While investigating the Silva case, Haro learned someone in the police department allegedly voided the tickets, according to the lawsuit.
The South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force and Cook County state’s attorney’s office investigated whether there was a cover-up of the investigation into Silva’s death, according to the complaint. Law enforcement officials in Florida interviewed the person of interest, who had moved to the state, according to the complaint. No one was ever criminally charged in connection with the Silva case.
A payroll register published on Blue Island’s website showed that as of May, Haro was still employed by the city. His two-week gross pay of $3,948 would equate to an annual salary of about $102,650.
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