A Galesburg man whose case was tossed out after he was accused of threatening to “shoot up” the Knox County Courthouse in late-2022 is now suing the county and two of its employees in federal court.
The suit was filed in federal court in Peoria Monday by attorneys for Matthew Sullivan.
Sullivan was arrested in mid-December of 2022, after county employees claimed he made the threat, after calling and asking about a fine in another case and was dissatisfied with the answer.
The suit claims one of the employees overheard Sullivan make the threat over the phone, and alleges he said, “I will come down and shoot up the courthouse and sue you guys, the judge, and the Courthouse for taking my money.”
Lawsuit documents claim Sullivan actually said, “Well, then I’m going to come up and sue the courthouse.” The suit claims signed affidavits from two friends back that up.
That led an employee to allegedly responded, “Good luck with that. Get an attorney,” then hung up.
The case was dropped in March of last year, attorneys claim, because prosecutors had a lack of sufficient evidence.
The suit seeks unspecified damages. Knox County State’s Attorney Jeremy Karlin declined to comment, except to say that the county will be represented in court by outside counsel.
7-12-24 Sullivan Federal Lawsuit by WGIL Radio on Scribd
