County Board OKs settlement of inmate's excessive force lawsuit

The Kendall County Board unanimously approved a settlement Tuesday with a federal inmate who at one time was housed in the Kendall County Jail in Yorkville and sued the county for excessive force.

The inmate, Carl Childers, filed a complaint under the federal Civil Rights Act in June of 2016, according to federal court records.

The board unanimously approved a settlement for $7,500. Childers has asked for $2 million and a jury trial in his handwritten complaint.

In a statement filed with the court, Childers claimed that a sheriff’s deputy used “over excessive force” on him. Childers said he was told by a sergeant at the jail that the deputy “was going to be investigated and dealt with.”

Childers is an inmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Institute in Chicago, according to federal prison records.

According to federal court records, Childers and another man were indicted in September 2014 for transporting 24 guns, collector coins and other stolen goods with a total value of over $200,000 across state lines from Michigan to Illinois.

On June 23 of this year, Childers accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors. A sentencing date was not set, but a status hearing in federal court was set for Wednesday, Sept. 6.

Childers was also convicted of aggravated battery to a peace officer and burglary in Cook County in 2014, for which he served time in state prison. He was paroled from the state system on July 28 of this year, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.