Lawsuit: Alleged Izzy’s bar shooter accuses Joliet police of framing him for murder

A Crest Hill man charged with killing a bartender and wounding another man at Izzy’s bar is attempting to sue the Joliet Police Department, claiming he was framed in the incident, court records show.

On March 3, Patrick Gleason, 57, filed a pro se complaint against the police that seeks “$30 million for all the damages, pain and suffering,” his federal suit said.

Gleason has been in jail since March 11, 2018, after he was charged with fatally shooting bartender Daniel Rios III, 52, and wounding Thomas Izquierdo, the son of Izzy's owner, Alfonso Izquierdo, at the Theodore Street bar.

Gleason claimed in his lawsuit that he and a woman went to Izzy’s for drinks after attending an REO Speedwagon concert at the Rialto Square Theatre on March 9, 2018.

Gleason and the woman went back to his home and he was later confronted by four Joliet police officers, the lawsuit claimed.

“They said I killed someone at Izzy’s bar and that it was on video. I told them I don’t know what they are talking about and that if I am on video that I came with a woman and left with her,” Gleason’s lawsuit said.

Gleason claimed the officers beat him with flashlights, took him back to the bar “where they and Izzy continued to beat me until I was dead.” He claimed he later awakened in a helicopter headed for Loyola University Medical Center.

He accused Joliet police, Alfonso Izquierdo and his son of tampering with and erasing video footage and “re-enacted out a murder scene which does not include me or the bartender on bar video.”

Joliet police Lt. Christopher Botzum said the police cannot comment on pending litigation. He said the facts in Gleason’s case “will be presented to the court when it goes to trial.”

Gleason's attorney Chuck Bretz said he's not representing him in the lawsuit and that he can't comment on his conversations with Gleason regarding his version of events of what occurred in the case.

U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang denied Gleason’s request to not pay filing fees for the lawsuit and said he needs to sign an amended complaint, court records show.