A recently hired Munster Police officer was involved in some “traumatic” incidents during his time with the Dolton Police Department but Munster Police Chief Steve Scheckel said officials investigated the allegations involving Ryan Perez and all of the instances have been ruled justifiable.
Those cases, according to stories published in the Daily Southtown, resulted in the deaths of three people, including one who was in custody at a hospital.
Perez was hired by the Munster Police Department on Oct. 14, according to an email from Scheckel. He started as an emergency hire with experience, so he started as a first-class officer with an annual salary of $81,785.60.
“We conducted a thorough background investigation on Mr. Perez, and we are aware of his employment history with Dolton,” Scheckel said in the email, adding Perez was involved in “a few” officer-involved shootings during his career in Dolton but all of the incidents “were investigated by the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Unit” and the incidents were ruled justifiable.
Additionally, Scheckel said that Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney Kim Foxx never filed criminal charges against Perez.
Multiple stories in the Daily Southtown, however, reference civil lawsuits filed against Perez for his actions. Those include:
*A May 2019 ruling by a federal grand jury that Perez and another Dolton officer did not use excessive or unreasonable force when they fatally fired on an armed robbery suspect outside a gas station in 2016.
Perez and another officer fatally shot 30-year-old Donte Johnson outside the Shell gas station at 1445 E. Sibley Blvd. after they said he pointed a gun at one of them, officials said.
About a month after the lawsuit was filed, the Cook County State’s Attorney, relying on an investigation by the Illinois State Police’s Public Integrity Task Force, declined to file criminal charges against the officers.
*A March 2021 court ruling cleared Perez in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of a DUI suspect who died after a 2018 struggle in a hospital.
Perez acted professionally and appropriately during the struggle, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Lorna Propes ruled in dismissing the suit filed by the family of Solomon Agwomoh, a 51-year-old cab driver and father of four from South Holland.
Agwomoh, who drove for Chicago Carriage Cab Company, was involved in a crash with another vehicle at Cottage Grove Avenue and Sibley Boulevard in Dolton at 12:40 a.m. March 10, 2018, according to the lawsuit.
An ambulance transported Agwomoh to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn and a police supervisor told Perez to go to the hospital and conduct a DUI investigation there, where, according to the judge who made the ruling, Agwomoh “became uncontrollable and would not follow staff instructions. He could not be reassured or calmed down.”
Perez used a Taser device to administer an electric shock to Agwomoh during the struggle, according to the ruling.
Agwomoh was again handcuffed, the judge noted, and medical staff administered sedatives. Within minutes, Agwomoh stopped breathing, according to a 2018 report by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. He was pronounced dead within the hour.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide because the struggle that preceded the death involved another person, according to the 2018 report. Agwomoh’s death was caused by multiple factors, the medical examiner concluded, including heart disease, high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries.
Agwomoh’s death was ruled a homicide by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
*Perez was named in a federal civil rights suit filed in July 2022 as one of two officers accused of using excessive force when police fatally shot Alexis Wilson, 19, of Homewood, in July 2021.
Wilson was driving herself and a passenger at about 1 a.m. July 27, 2021, when they went to a drive-through at Baba’s Famous Steak & Lemonade, 685 Sibley Boulevard. Wilson got into a verbal dispute with an employee, who called the police, according to the complaint.
Police arrived and ordered Wilson and the passenger to exit the vehicle. The passenger complied but Wilson refused, saying she was not properly dressed. Perez opened the driver’s door and began punching Wilson, the suit claims.
“In fear for her safety, Alexis Wilson began to drive away,” according to the complaint.
As Wilson set the car in motion, the officer with Perez fired his weapon several times at her, the suit claims.
An officer reached into the vehicle to try to remove Wilson and Wilson drove off, dragging the officer with her, a village official has said. Her vehicle hit another officer, who was able to fire at the vehicle, striking Wilson three times.
Wilson’s vehicle hit a Dolton squad car and traveled about 1,500 feet before crashing into the front of a bicycle shop and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Most officers are involved in lawsuits during their careers, Scheckel said in his email.
“The Munster Police Department took the allegations made against Officer Perez with the utmost caution,” Scheckel said, but after reviewing the incidents he was involved in, concluded that Perez was involved in some “traumatic” incidents but was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Perez was hired by the Oak Forest, Illinois, police department after he left Dolton, Scheckel said. “In his time with Oak Forest, according to his peers and supervisors,” Perez was considered a stellar officer with “no disciplinary actions.”
Perez worked for that department from December 2023 until October 2024, Chrissy Maher, communication director for the city administration, said in an email.
“His rank was patrolman and there are no responsive records as to discipline,” she said.
Perez could not be reached for comment; according to Scheckel, the department does not let individual officers talk to the media.
“I really can’t make any comment,” Munster Town Council President David Nellans, R-4th, said by phone, “because it’s a personnel matter.”
A Dolton official did not respond to an email request about when Perez was employed with the department there.
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
Daily Southtown archives contributed.
