Darien Candidate Repeatedly Yelled "Help!" In Police Encounter

DARIEN, IL — Darien City Council candidate John Laratta repeatedly yelled "Help!" and demanded a lawyer while being taken into police custody in December 2019.

The Vietnam veteran emerged from his house shirtless after more than a half hour while police investigated what they believed was a shooting.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the Darien Police Department's video and audio from the incident in the 8000 block of Barrymore Drive. Little can be seen on the video from the police officers' dashboard cameras, other than blurry images and Christmas lights in the distance. The audio told more of the story.

Laratta, now 76, has not been charged with a crime.

When Laratta left his town house early the morning of Dec. 30, 2019, he asked officers, "What's going on with you guys? What the hell is going on with you guys?"

Although the encounter could not be seen on video, Laratta proceeded to loudly yell, "Help!" at least three dozen times. This apparently happened as police were taking him into custody.

On her audio, Darien Officer Jennifer Dollins could be heard reassuring Laratta. She told him to take a deep breath and that she would explain what was going on.

From one officer's video, it looked like the police were taking Laratta into an ambulance. According to a complaint that Laratta filed against police, the ambulance was the space that officers used as a makeshift interrogation room. He said officers grilled him and pronounced him guilty.

In the ambulance and elsewhere, Laratta repeatedly demanded an attorney. Dollins was with Laratta for a few minutes, and her audio indicates there were no questions about the incident in question or accusations made.

Laratta was asked whether he had been drinking. His answer could not be made out, although his wife later told police that he had been drinking. In a memory test, an officer asked Laratta whether he knew the name of the president. He answered correctly — Donald Trump at the time.

"If I'm under arrest, I want an attorney now," Laratta said.

Then he asked whether he was under arrest.

Dollins responded Laratta was being detained for a possible arrest. She said the police were trying to figure out what happened at his house that night.

Police responded to Laratta's house after his niece and neighbors, including an off-duty police officer, called about hearing two gunshots, according to police reports. In a later interview, Laratta's wife told an officer she believed her husband had fired the shots.

Laratta, however, said that night he had no idea why he was being detained.

"Here I am handcuffed, and no one has told me why," Laratta said. "I can't believe this. Here I am, they pulled me out at 12:15 at night. I'm handcuffed. Don't know why. Being detained but not under arrest."

He said he had been ready to go to bed.

"I'm a law-abiding citizen. I'm a 100 percent disabled veteran," he said.

When Dollins left Laratta, she could be heard telling another officer that Laratta was "really agitated."

Later, when officers tried to transfer Laratta to a squad car, Dollins said, "Please don't make this harder."

Laratta again shouted "Help!" repeatedly.

Dollins told Laratta to stop hooking his foot on the door, then said, "Don't bite me, dude!"

"I'm not biting you," Laratta said. (No allegation of biting was included in the police reports made available to Patch.)

Laratta continued yelling.

"Why are you doing this? I haven't done anything," he said.

A video in the police department's booking room showed Laratta walking in with his pants down to his ankles. He appeared to have a blanket on top because he left his house shirtless.

In his complaint, Laratta said police officers laughed about his pants being down, a contention that the police department says is unfounded. The booking room video had no sound. Shortly after he got in there, an officer pulled up Laratta's pants.

While he was in the booking room, Laratta either sat on a stool or paced, holding the blanket around him.

As the police report indicates, paramedics arrived two hours later, about 3:30 a.m., to take Laratta to the hospital. He complained of pain in his chest. He blamed the pain on an officer falling hard on his back while handcuffing him.

Laratta was at the hospital for a while. Later in the morning, after Laratta left the hospital, police released him.

It was a tense night for officers in what they thought may be a standoff. One officer could be heard twice saying that police needed someone else in charge of the response, saying the person who held that role "doesn't know what the (expletive) he is doing."

In December, Police Chief Greg Thomas said in a report that he determined Laratta's allegations about police misconduct unfounded. But he did not get cooperation in his internal review from other departments that took part that night, including Woodridge police, one of whose officers was believed to have initially handcuffed Laratta.

A few weeks ago, shortly after Patch's first story about the encounter, Darien police announced that the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office would file no charges in the incident involving Laratta. But Thomas told Patch that he believed plenty of probable cause existed for an arrest. Police said the investigation lasted so long because it took nearly a year to get lab results for the gun residue.

Laratta started writing about the incident on Patch in late December, around the time he filed his candidacy for City Council. He contends Darien police and Patch are working together against him.

Because Laratta is a candidate for elected office and continues to issue public statements about the incident, Patch has tried to gather more information about it. Laratta has declined requests for an interview, accusing Patch's reporter of being a daily liar.

Laratta is running against Ward 5 Alderwoman Mary Sullivan in the April 6 election. A former homeowners association president, Laratta has been a Darien resident for more than two decades.

In the Vietnam War, Laratta suffered major back and knee injuries and was given his late rites, his wife told police in her interview.

"He almost didn't get home," she said.