Will County pays wrongfully accused cop $126,500 in honeybee killer settlement

WILL COUNTY — The Lynwood police officer falsely accused as the "honeybee killer" was paid $126,500 as part of a settlement agreement with Will County, according to settlement documents.

Brian Dorian was arrested and charged in October 2010, accused in a shooting spree where a man shot to death a construction worker and injured another man near Beecher after asking them about honeybees.

A year after his release from jail, the police officer filed suit in 2011 seeking more than $1 million in damages. The suit claimed county officials “fabricated evidence and supplied slanderous and defamatory information to the press.”

The county's settlement was signed Jan. 5, documents show.

Dorian’s attorney, Gregory Kulis, said Thursday that his client, who still is a Lynwood police officer, is “very happy” to have this matter finally resolved.

“Now he can go on with his life as a law enforcement officer and as a good family man,” Kulis said. “Brian wants to go on with his life and feels this, in some way, has given him the ability to move on from a very unfortunate situation.”

A call to the Will County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman for comment Thursday was not immediately returned.

The man investigators believe was the real killer, 48-year-old Gary Amaya, was gunned down in December during a hold-up at a tanning salon in Orland Park. Ballistics tests showed the gun used in the robbery was the same gun used by the “honeybee killer.”

All charges against Dorian were later dropped after evidence showed he was on his computer at the time of the crimes and that neither he nor his truck matched descriptions given to police by witnesses.

The prosecutor in the case, Will County State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow, was initially named in Dorian’s lawsuit, but a federal judge quickly dismissed him, saying there wasn’t enough evidence of alleged misconduct and that, by law, he had inherent immunity.

Dorian’s case is just one of a handful of high-profile mishaps involving Will County law enforcement over the last several years, including a murder case in which the father of 3-year-old Riley Fox was wrongly charged with his daughter’s murder.

That case resulted in lawsuits over false charges.

Will County law enforcement also has been criticized over the department’s handling of the high-profile Drew Peterson murder case.