A federal lawsuit has been refiled against a Joliet police officer that includes new allegations over whether an officer subjected a 12-year-old girl to harmful and offensive physical contact when he frisked her during a traffic stop.

Shaw Local reported last year on the Feb. 18, 2025, lawsuit filed by the girl’s mother regarding a 2024 traffic stop that involved Joliet police officer Daniel Avila.

The lawsuit alleged that Avila performed a pat-down search of the 12-year-old girl’s body despite no reasonable suspicion that she possessed a weapon or posed a threat. The lawsuit alleged that Avila’s “unwanted physical touching” violated the girl’s constitutional rights and caused her trauma.

The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed Feb. 20 because it had been filed prematurely, court records show.

But a new lawsuit filed Wednesday contains the same allegations, along with new allegations regarding Avila’s conversation with a Joliet police sergeant who responded to the scene.

The pat-down was recorded on Avila’s body camera, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claimed that the sergeant told Avila, “I don’t even know how to smooth this one over,” as well as, “I mean, I’m going to pretty much have to be like you made a mistake.”

The lawsuit alleged that Avila said, “It’s a mistake, I think.”

The mother is being represented by the Cochran Firm in Chicago. In a statement, attorney Victor Henderson said there was “no threat, no suspicion and no legal basis for this search.”

“Even the police department has admitted that. The question now is why this was allowed to happen and what changes are needed to ensure it never happens again,” Henderson said.

The mother filed a written complaint against Avila on Feb. 19, 2024, on a form that said allegations will “ultimately be determined by the internal affairs, according to exhibits filed in the 2025 lawsuit.”

But Avila’s supervisor, Joliet Police Sgt. Robert Mau issued Avila a shift-level counseling notice, according to exhibits in the 2025 version of the lawsuit. Such notices are effectively an early warning.

Mau’s notice to Avila said he violated the department’s general order regarding frisk searches. The notice said the department will work with Avila to improve his ability to perform as an officer.

A 2024 report on a civil rights investigation of the department by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office said the department relies heavily on shift-level counseling as an alternative to discipline, including in cases involving serious policy violations.