A south suburban police officer was wrongly charged and jailed. Now, Officer Brian Dorian is talking about his struggle to regain his reputation and career.
When Dorian first talked to ABC7 last year, he said it was with the hope he would soon have answers to how and why Will County authorities got it so wrong. He says he filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit because he has yet to receive those answers, let alone a personal apology.
"Not just me, am I owed answers, my family, friends, supporters, and those victims who were victimized twice," said Dorian.
Brian Dorian is a cop with little confidence in Will County law enforcement. One year ago, in the span of four long days in the Will County jail, Dorian went from decorated officer to accused killer. Dorian still remembers telling his attorney he was cooperating with detectives.
"He asked 'did you waive your rights and talk to them?.' I said, 'absolutely. I didn't do this, I got nothing to hide.' I said, 'here's what they're going to do: they are going to look into what I'm telling them and they are going to confirm it and they are going to come back.' And as I'm telling him this he's shaking his head. And I said, 'what?' And he said, 'Brian, they charged you,'" he told ABC7.
Dorian has now filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit naming Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, Sheriff Paul Kaupas and a detective on the case. It accuses investigators of fabricating evidence and encouraging a witness to identify Dorian as the shooter.
"In Will County, they rush to charge, they rush for the headlines, they rush to put someone's name out there, put somebody on TV, put somebody in the newspaper and then they start looking for evidence," said Greg Kulis, Dorian's attorney.
Dorian has spent the last year piecing his life and reputation back together. Lynwood Police had him retrain and work with another officer for months to make sure he was ready for solo street duty.
As for those questions for the men who charged him, the state's attorney and sheriff say they haven't answered for the past year because of the possibility of a lawsuit.
"I am facing life in prison, the rest of my life basically, and they sure as hell expect me to wave my rights to an attorney, but you can't answer a few simple questions and make me understand all this supposed evidence you had? Not only is that ironic, but I think it's pretty sickening," said Dorian.
Through a spokesperson, the Will County state's attorney says he feels in his words "horrible" for what happened to Mr. Dorian. But Glasgow continues to insist the investigation and charges were handled according the letter of the law.
The real "honeybee killer" was identified only after he was shot with his own gun during an attempted robbery.
