Jeff Pesek accused of grinding foot into man’s face
By STEVE WARMBIR Staff Reporter May 10, 2011 6:14PM
Updated: June 12, 2011 12:33AM
A Cicero school board president is accused of grinding his foot into the face of a man already knocked to the ground as if he were putting out a cigarette, according to court records.
Jeff Pesek, president of the Morton High School District 201 board, which serves Berwyn and Cicero, allegedly stepped on the face of a rival campaign worker, Antonio Andrade, outside a polling place during the 2009 municipal Cicero elections, according to federal lawsuit.
Pesek, who is a Cicero town consultant and supporter of Town President Larry Dominick, but not a police officer, adamantly denied the allegation this week, saying Andrade was the aggressor. Two Cicero police officers testified at Andrade’s trial that Pesek did not step on Andrade.
After the run-in with police, Andrade, 40, was convicted at trial of two misdemeanors, including resisting arrest, but a witness at Andrade’s trial backed his story.
Julian Mejia, who worked on the same political campaign as Andrade but didn’t know him before that day, testified he saw a man, fitting Pesek’s description, grinding his foot into Andrade’s face after Cicero police officers had gotten him on the ground, handcuffed him and pepper sprayed him. Mejia made a motion with his foot like his was putting out a cigarette when describing Pesek’s alleged foot motion.
“When the person is already on the ground, and he is already handcuffed, you don’t have to hit him or spray him,” Mejia testified through a Spanish interpreter. “And don’t let anybody else hit him.”
At the start of the confrontation, Pesek allegedly approached Andrade and accused of him of being a gang member. Andrade has a misdemeanor criminal record, but denies being in a gang. Andrade’s lawsuit alleges Cicero police arrived, roughed him up, with help from Pesek. While Pesek is named in the narrative of the lawsuit, he is not a defendant, apparently because he does not work for the Cicero police department, which is the focus on the lawsuit.
“It was a terrible ordeal,” said Andrade, adding he is on disability after what happened.
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