The city of Joliet agreed to pay $87,000 to a Joliet man in exchange for him dropping his claims of false arrest and excessive force against two police officers, one of whom is the son of the deputy city manager.

On Friday afternoon, the city released the settlement agreement in the lawsuit case in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Shaw Local.

In 2024, Jason Heath filed a federal lawsuit against Joliet police officers Jennifer Gruber and Jack Desiderio, the son of Joliet Deputy City Manager Christa Desiderio, over the incident that led to Heath’s arrest in 2023.

Judge Vincent Cornelius found Heath not guilty of felony aggravated battery of Gruber and not guilty of misdemeanor obstruction.

After viewing videos in a bench trial, Cornelius said there was nothing in Heath’s interaction with Gruber that suggested he had ever touched her.

Heath’s lawsuit claimed he was subjected to a false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, excessive force and battery by the officers.

The city denied the allegations.

The settlement agreement in Heath’s case noted that the $87,000 payment is not an “admission of liability or of unconstitutional or illegal conduct on the part of the city, the Joliet Police Department or any of the city of Joliet police officers.”

Heath was represented by Ian Barney and Jordan Marsh of Barney Hammond law firm, which has other cases filed against the city.

In Heath’s lawsuit, he alleges that the charges against him were “predicated on false and fictitious statements” made by Gruber and Desiderio. Heath also alleged that Desiderio subjected him to excessive force by deploying the Taser on him.

“Prior to being tased, [Heath] was not attempting to flee and posed no threat to the safety of [Gruber and Desiderio] or others,” according to Heath’s lawsuit.

The use of Tasers was one of the issues highlighted in Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul‘s civil rights investigation of police department practices.

Raoul’s office said its findings showed Joliet police officers have unlawfully used Tasers to gain compliance.