Former Orland Park police officers sue village in federal court after improper firing, arrest (Chicago, IL) – (March 20, 2025) – Two former Orland Park police officers have filed lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the Village of Orland Park and several of its employees, alleging a culture of self-protection and stifling of dissent within the Orland Park Police Department—a culture that led to one officer’s wrongful termination and another former officer’s wrongful arrest.
The lawsuit alleges that the Orland Park Police Department (OPPD) denied William Sanchez, a former sergeant, a promotion from sergeant to lieutenant due to apparent race discrimination. After he formally complained to Chief of Police Eric Rossi and to the Orland Park Human Resources department and filed charges of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the OPPD fired him in an act of retaliation, according to his lawsuit. Sanchez was a member of the police force for more than 19 years and was on track to be promoted to lieutenant–something other white officers, all who had formerly held his position as a Traffic Safety Unit supervisor, had already achieved.
Sanchez’s complaint also alleges that he had witnessed troubling race-based incidents within his workplace, including a colleague who was promoted even after being photographed wearing blackface and another colleague who the OPPD hired even though he had been recorded making racist remarks against an African-American arrestee. Sanchez said he felt incidents like this were part of a culture of racial bias that extended to his lack of promotion.
After an investigation described as a “sham” in the lawsuit, Orland Park terminated Sanchez’s employment for making discrimination complaints the Village considered “unfounded.”
A neutral arbitrator recently determined that the Village lacked good cause to terminate Sanchez.
“This is a rare employment retaliation case where the employer actually admitted they terminated someone—in this case Sergeant Sanchez, a 19-year veteran of the Department—for participating in protected activity,” said attorney Justin Tresnowski of Hughes Socol Piers Resnick, & Dym, Ltd, who represents both plaintiffs. “Sergeant Sanchez deserves to get his job back, and for Orland Park to take meaningful steps to make sure no one else has to fear for their jobs just because they voice their concerns about potential race discrimination within the police department.”
In a second case, former OPPD Sergeant Kenneth Kovac made a Facebook page parodying then-Deputy Chief of Police Brian West. Former Deputy Chief West worked to shut down the parody page and enlisted other high-ranking officers to investigate, arrest, and criminally charge Kovac for false personation and disorderly conduct, alleged crimes for which he faced up to one year of imprisonment. A Cook County Circuit Court judge dismissed both criminal charges nine months after they were filed.
“Sergeant Sanchez’s retaliatory termination for complaining about discrimination and Mr. Kovac’s arrest and prosecution for non-threatening parody posts online were patently illegal abuses of power,” said Tresnowski. “In both cases, leaders of the Orland Park Police Department acted as though they were above the law–using their positions of authority to seek retribution against individuals simply because they did not like what those individuals said. Even more troubling, Village leadership has continued to condone–and even celebrate–this abuse of power. Mr. Kovac and Sergeant Sanchez deserve justice, and the Village must be held accountable.”
The complaints can be read here and here.
Former Orland Park police officers sue village in federal court after improper firing, arrest
