Attorney releases bodycam when man sues Village of Woodridge, several officers over false arrest

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A lawsuit has been filed against the Village of Woodridge and five police officers after a man claims his rights were violated after he was stopped and arrested when officers allegedly confused him for a shooting suspect last year.

On Friday, Ekl, Williams & Provenzale LLC filed a seven-count complaint against the Woodridge Police Department and several officers on behalf of Derrick House, who they claim was falsely arrested, subjected to excessive force by the officers and had his Fourth Amendment rights violated by the officers as they sought a shooting suspect on Jan. 19, 2024.

WGN has chosen not to name the officers involved, as they have not been formally charged.

House’s attorneys claim that he was only pulled over because he was Black, adding that his vehicle was a different make and had different license plate numbers than the wanted vehicle.

Alongside the complaint, House’s attorneys also released footage of the incident.

Attorneys representing House said he was driving home from Costco in his 2021 Volkswagen Atlas that day to make dinner with his family and was not breaking any laws when an unmarked Woodridge squad car cut in front of him. They said multiple officers then surrounded his vehicle and pointed guns at him while shouting contradictory commands and threatening to kill him.

The lawsuit states that during the stop, two of the officers pointed their service pistols at Derrick’s head from less than 20 feet away while yelling threatening statements like, “We are going to end you.” Amid the stop, several other officers converged on his vehicle and also pointed weapons at him.

After exiting his vehicle, House’s attorneys claim that the officers placed him in handcuffs before they searched his pockets and placed him into the back of a squad car.

“Complying with the command to turn around and face away from the officers, Derrick had the thought he was about to be shot in the back, not knowing who would be his executioner,” the lawsuit stated.

According to the lawsuit, less than a minute after being placed in the squad car, House was released from custody, with one of the officers telling him, “I’m taking you out of handcuffs, and I’m letting you go.”

But House’s attorneys claim that the officer, seeing that House was in distress, then lied to him about the context of the situation, in an effort to keep him calm. According to the lawsuit, the officer claimed that police in Oswego had reported a shooting and that House’s car model matched the description and his plate numbers were only off by two numbers.

The lawsuit alleges that none of the details about the vehicle in the Oswego incident matched up to House’s car, and that officers in that incident were searching for a Volkswagen Tiguan.

House’s attorneys claim since that day, he has been in “psychological and emotional prison,” which has impacted his family and social life.