A Sangamon County sheriff's deputy who has cost taxpayers a six-figure settlement is back in court.
This time, Deputy Travis Koester and the county are being sued by Billie W. Greer, a retired Illinois Department of Corrections administrator whom Koester detained and handcuffed last February. According to her lawsuit and an internal affairs investigation, Koester cuffed Greer for driving on a suspended license, then threatened to take her to jail even after discovering that her driver's license was valid.
In her lawsuit, Greer accuses Koester of false arrest. Department brass in September sustained an internal affairs complaint Greer filed against the deputy, who has a history of internal affairs complaints and lawsuits.
Koester's encounter with Greer began when she refused to accept court paperwork for a relative that had been filed in connection with a request for an order for protection. Apparently unknown to Koester, a judge had dismissed the case several days earlier, according to Greer's internal affairs complaint.
Koester told Greer that refusing to accept the paperwork constituted a misdemeanor and that he would be referring the matter to the state's attorney. In his report, Koester says that he then parked near Greer's home and looked her up on his computer, which showed that she had a suspended license. Koester in his report says that he saw a car leaving Greer's driveway and began to follow it. The car traveled 50 feet before pulling into a driveway of a home. Greer got out, Koester blocked the car in with his vehicle and handcuffed Greer, telling her that she had an invalid driver's license.
Greer protested, saying that she'd never had a moving violation and that she was bringing biscuits to an elderly neighbor. Upon checking his computer again, Koester discovered that Greer's firearm owners identification card and concealed weapons permit were not in good standing, but her driver's license was valid. In his report, Koester wrote that he took the handcuffs off when he realized Greer's driver's license was valid.
"I'm going to get you out of these cuffs and I'm going to work with you because it's Sunday," Koester tells Greer in audio footage captured by his vehicle's dash camera. In her internal affairs complaint, Greer says that the deputy offered to take the cuffs off and let her go if she took the court paperwork.
When he took the cuffs off Greer, she said that she wanted to speak with a supervisor. "For what?" Koester asked. He then threatened to take Greer to jail and she could talk to a supervisor there, according to an internal affairs investigator and the dash camera footage.
"Deputy Koester became frustrated that she requested a supervisor and changed his mind about making an arrest," Lt. Wesley Wooden writes in a September internal affairs report. "Deputy Koester never states what charge he would be taking her to jail for after knowing that her driver's license was valid."
After the cuffs came off, Greer's 83-year-old neighbor got out of her house. "If you (don't) want to be involved in this, you might need to go back inside, OK?" Koester tells the woman. "I'm investigating something ma'am, OK? She's involved in a criminal matter right now for refusing to take this paper." Dash camera footage shows the woman, who was in front of Koester's car while he was out of the frame, apparently at the vehicle door, doing something with her hand.
"Did you just send a threat?" Koester asks. "You were shaking a fist at me, so I didn't know."
Wooden in his report says the woman didn't threaten Koester.
"(Redacted) is an 83-year-old female who was on her own property during this conversation," the lieutenant wrote. "It is not reasonable to believe that (redacted) posed any sort of realistic threat to Deputy Koester."
Sheriff Jack Campbell did not respond to email and phone messages requesting comment. Louis Meyer, Greer's attorney, said he doesn't know what the case is worth, but he'll try for punitive damages designed to discourage similar behavior in the future.
"It's not something that Ms. Greer is pursuing for monetary gain, it's more for exposure of this, so he doesn't do this to others," Meyer said. "It appears, obviously, to be a pattern of conduct for this particular officer."
In 2015, the county paid $150,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman whom Koester tased after pulling her companion over on suspicion of driving under the influence. Koester and the county prevailed in three other federal lawsuits against the deputy and the county alleging excessive force.
In 2010, Koester fibbed on the witness stand, testifying that a Crime Stoppers tip prompted an investigation into a suspected drug dealer; in fact, Koester was tipped by someone whom he had pulled over in a traffic stop. The case was dismissed, Koester got a reprimand. Shortly before his testimony, Koester in an unrelated case proposed altering a search warrant application so a judge wouldn't know that he'd used an infrared device to gather evidence against a suspected pot grower, which amounted to a constitutional violation, according to department commander.
In 2012, two Sangamon County Circuit Court judges questioned Koester's credibility in separate DUI cases, with one calling the deputy's testimony "convolutedly crappy" and another saying he believed that Koester was "making it up as he goes along." Both cases were dismissed.
In 2018, 10 members of the department's tactical response unit resigned from the unit after an administrative law judge, ultimately overturned, recommended that Koester be returned to the unit after being removed. He'd been removed after his colleagues said they didn't trust him because he'd filed grievances, claiming that he'd wrongly been passed over for promotions that went to other deputies.
Last summer, the sheriff's department gave Koester a commendation, saying that he'd saved the lives of two elderly women by pulling them from a burning apartment building.
