Work-release participant sues sheriff, Palos Hills
Sun-Times Media Wire June 7, 2012 8:22PM
Updated: June 9, 2012 11:43AM
A man who participated in a work-release program run by the Cook County Sheriff’s office claims he suffered permanent injuries when a festival tent collapsed on him.
Philip Caldamone was apart of a work-release program for offenders when employees with the sheriff’s office told him to take down a tent during the Palos Hill Freedom Fest on July 11, 2011, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court
Caldamone began taking the tent down when “severe weather and negligent construction” caused the tent to fall on him, the suit claims.
The suit claims employees with the sheriff’s office and the city of Palos Hills were “warned” multiple times about the weather and knew it would put Caldamone in “immediate danger.”
“This conduct would shock the conscience of any reasonable individual,” the suit states.
The suit also claims that a company that owned and constructed the tents did not adequately maintain or inspect the tents.
The three-count lawsuit seeks at least $150,000.
A spokesman for the sheriff’s office said he had not seen the lawsuit.
A representative for Palos Hills did not immediately return calls for comment.
