Federal Jury Awards $350,000 to Chicago Man After Officer Jason Van Dyke's Excessive Force at Traffic Stop

In October 2007, Chicago police officers stopped Edward Nance in the Gresham district for a missing front license plate. What began as a routine traffic enforcement encounter escalated when Van Dyke's partner ordered Nance out of the car, slammed his head onto the hood, and Van Dyke then violently handcuffed him and threw him into the back seat of a squad car.

Nance was not charged with any crime. The physical damage from the arrest, though, was severe. He had worked for Comcast and supplemented his income as a referee for Illinois High School Association football and basketball games. After the stop, he required rotator cuff surgeries on both shoulders. The injuries left him unable to continue either job.

Nance filed a civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, naming Van Dyke, Van Dyke's partner, the City of Chicago, and other Chicago Police Department members. Attorney Michael McCready of McCready Law represented Nance at trial. McCready's team presented evidence that Van Dyke used force that bore no reasonable relationship to any threat Nance posed during a stop that arose entirely from a missing license plate.

The federal jury found that Van Dyke had used excessive force and returned a verdict of $350,000 for Nance's shoulder injuries and lost income. Despite the verdict, the Independent Police Review Authority deemed the underlying complaint 'unsustained,' citing a lack of independent witnesses present during the stop. Neither Van Dyke nor his partner faced departmental discipline.

The case drew renewed national attention in late 2015 after Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in the October 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald. Following news of that charge, Nance told McCready: 'If they had done something about this cop in our case, this young boy would still be alive.' The $350,000 verdict in Nance's favor stands as the documented federal judgment against Van Dyke for the 2007 incident.