The Polish family of a man who died in police custody at the Village of Stone Park filed a suit in federal court against the police department and the village, alleging wrongful death.

According to the complaint, filed Oct. 17 in the Northern District of Illinois Court, Robert Kuc, 42, of Chicago, was found deceased in the police lockup, 1629 N. Mannheim Road, with a white blanket wrapped around his neck the morning after his arrest outside a Stone Park tavern in the early morning of Oct. 31, 2015.

The suit alleges the Stone Park Police Department improperly left a blanket in the lockup and did not adequately supervise Kuc, “failing to keep him in a safe and suitable environment and failing to keep him free from injury, harm, and death.”

The suit alleges the Village of Stone Park Stone Park jail personnel were inadequately trained on the procedures for “handling of inmates who are mentally disabled, and/or potentially suicidal.”

According to the complaint, police were summoned to Carl’s Lounge around 4:15 a.m. responding to a domestic complaint. When they arrived, the complaint said, the people who caused the initial police call had left the bar, but officers observed Kuc being held face-down on the ground by security guards who were striking him.

Employees of Carl’s told police Kuc had allegedly kicked a door at Carl’s, breaking a lock and causing around $100 worth of damage. Kuc was allegedly handcuffed by Stone Park police and taken to the station lockup, where he was determined to be “victim of a battery” and offered medical help, which he allegedly declined.

“It’s kind of strange the only guy is getting arrested is the guy who got beat up,” said W. Scott Krol, attorney for Kuc’s estate and surviving family members.

Krol said Kuc’s divorced wife and two U.S.-born sons had moved back to Poland and his mother was also in Europe.

“Sometimes with immigrants, if a person is Polish, there is miscommunication, and we don’t always know what happened.”

The Village of Stone Park had not yet filed a response to the complaint at the end of last week.

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— Wrongful death suit filed against Stone Park Police Dept. —