1 year, 9 months ago by Scott Hardy
Eight officers sued over April 2020 arrest
A Quincy man, serving a six-year sentence for meth possession, is suing the City of Quincy and eight Quincy Police Department officers over what he says was excessive force used during his 2020 arrest.
At a hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, a December 12th trial date was set in the case of Thaddeus Douglas against the city and the officers. The five count suit, filed last April, says that two of the officers, Steve Bangert and Paul Hodges, used excessive force during the arrest. Douglas also claims that the other six officers named in the suit failed to intervene. In his suit, Douglas says that Bangert and Hodges stopped Douglas while he was standing in the intersection of 14th and Monroe on April 14, 2020. He says that once the officers found out Douglas was on parole, they began to search him, grabbed his arm and threatened to release a canine officer. Douglas says that after he tried to pull away, the officers forced him to the street, cuffed him, began tasing him, and had the canine officer attack Douglas. Douglas claims that Bangert bragged that he used his taser nine times, including twice while in an ambulance. Bangert has counter-sued.
Douglas was convicted of meth possession in a 2021 trial in Adams County. He was found Not Guilty on one count of Aggravated Battery to a police officer. Douglas is asking that his legal bills be covered, but has not specified any amount of other damages he's seeking.
The suit is available to view below.
