Free Republic

The Village of Melrose Park decided that it would be a good idea to issue 62 tickets to an elderly couple for having lawn chairs in their front yard. The Village issued ticket after ticket, imposing fine after fine, to two eighty-year-old residents, Plaintiffs Vincent and Angeline Cozzi. The fines were not small potatoes. Each ticket cost $500, so the Village tagged them with fines totaling about $30,000. And when it was all said and done, the Village slapped them with a lien on their house, for good measure. The tickets faulted the Cozzis for creating a nuisance and for...

A group of Melrose Park residents have filed a federal lawsuit against the village's police department alleging several village police officers used excessive force against them in February. According to the lawsuit, on Feb. 20 five people, two of them teenagers, were allegedly beaten repeatedly and verbally assaulted. In addition, the lawsuit claims a Taser was repeatedly used on them by Melrose Park police officers. Melrose Police officers' Dezon Moss, David Borrego, Lt. Dino DiMaio and William Potamiano were also listed as defendants in the case. Melrose Park Police Chief Sam Pitassi said he was aware of the lawsuit but...