Update Friday, April 3, 2015 --
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources confirmed that the plaintiff dropped the lawsuit.
Original Story posted Wednesday, March 4, 2015 --
The family of a man shot and killed by an Illinois State Conservation Officer on I-88 near Rock Falls in November 2013, is filing a lawsuit against the officer and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, along with several other local officials.
According to Alexander Loftus of Voelker Litigation Group, who is filing the lawsuit on behalf of the family, Shane Cataline's family recently met with an eyewitness who disputes what officers said happened.
Cataline was traveling from Toledo, Ohio to Mountain View, California when he pulled his van to the side of the road.
According to information from the Illinois State Police on November 22, 2013, an Illinois State Police trooper conducted a traffic stop near I-88 and mile marker 35. The driver of the car pinned the trooper between his car and another while the trooper was on foot. An Illinois DNR officer who was also on scene shot the driver.
The trooper involved suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The attorney's filing the lawsuit on behalf of Shane's family say Sean Dale, an eyewitness to the shooting, did not see the trooper pinned in between cars.
"No. That would've killed him. If not, definitely took his legs off of him or something off of him. The van hit hard," said Dale in an interview provided by Voelker Litigation Group.
“I don’t think the kid was trying to really hurt anybody, I think he was really scared and I think he was trying to push that car out of the way and keep going just to get out of there, ya know? What other explanation could it be? He’s sober. He’s got nothing on him that he ain’t supposed to, he ain’t doing nothing wrong. Why would he try to kill somebody?”
Dale said he contacted police after the shooting to let them know he had witnessed it.
"There were several times that he didn't find my answers too pleasing on a lot of it. He kept turning off the tape when he felt like it. We’d talk a little bit more and he’d turn it back on. He wanted to get out of me basically that I thought he was trying to kill the cop, but I told him that I didn’t feel that way.”
In January 2014, the Whiteside County State's Attorney found the shooting was justified because Cataline was using his van in a way that could cause death or great bodily harm.
A spokesperson with the Illinois State Police said they do not comment on active litigation.