Woman Allegedly Run Over During Shorewood Drug Ripoff Now Suing Driver
A young woman who police said broke her arm when it was run over by her friend's drug dealer has filed a lawsuit.
When the Shorewood police arrested a teen for allegedly beating and robbing another teenager who was trying to buy drugs from him, they also said the supposed dealer ran over a young woman's arm, but never charged him with harming her.
Now, more than a year and a half later, the woman's taking justice into her own hands and suing the man she says crushed her under his car.
Jessica Lood, 22, filed the lawsuit against 20-year-old Jacob Gajcak, who was 18 when he supposedly ran her over with his Chevy Impala.
According to the lawsuit, in May 2011, Lood was in a car driven by 19-year-old Richard Englund. According to the police, she was also with Paul Durys, 19, of Plainfield, and they headed to Shorewood so Durys could buy marijuana from Gajcak.
Durys and Lood rendezvoused with Gajcak at the corner of Ranchwood and Colonade drives, police said. The plan was for Gajcak to sell Durys an ounce of marijuana, according to a police report, but it didn't work out that way.
Durys claimed Gajcak punched him in the face and snatched away the $360 he brought along to buy the pot, police said.
Durys fought back, and during the scuffle inside Gajcak's Impala, Lood jumped into the fray, police said. She then fell out of the Impala and suffered a broken arm when Gajcak ran her over as he drove off.
Nearly a week later, a Shorewood cop forced his way into the Dover Way home where Gajcak lives with his parents and sisters, Tased the teen and arrested him on felony charges of aggravated battery and robbery, along with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.
Prosecutors reduced those charges to battery and theft—both misdemeanors. The now-retired police chief, Robert Puleo, said he expected the state's attorney's office to reinstate the felonies but that never happened.
Gajcak eventually pleaded guilty to the two misdeneanors and a count of obstructing police. He got off with conditional discharge but prosecutors sought to revoke his probation after he was arrested on charges of knowingly damaging property and driving under the influence, and for a traffic case. The probation revocation case is still pending.
Lood's lawsuit makes no mention of her pal trying to buy pot.
Lood's attorney, Michael Cetina of Wheaton, pointed out that his client was only got involved to help Durys.
"She tried to stop the fight," Cetina said. "She was trying to prevent her friend from being attacked."
The lawsuit also names Gajcak's father, James Gajcak, as a respondent. Cetina included James Gajcak because he "owns a business with a separate business policy which may or may not provide coverage for the actions of his son," the lawsuit said.
While his son was still facing misdemeanor charges in connection with the May 2011 incident, James Gajcak questioned whether Lood actually suffered a broken arm.
"She comes into court," he said, "she doesn't have bandages or a cast on."
Cetina said Lood was seriously injured.
"It was bad," he said, adding that her arm is "not going to be 100 percent."
Updated 2:30 p.m. Feb. 1 with comments from attorney Michael Cetina
Check out all the craziest true crime news on our Facebook page
3ds4lifealways
9:43 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
So now Jessica wants to sue....Hmmmmmm...when drugs get into the wrong person system they seem to do dumb things.....This girl actually thinks she will get paid for commenting a crime....Weed seems to delay the brain...but Damn a year lata cum on now.....This reminds me of Bevis-n-Butt-Head...
John Roberts
7:02 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
People who have broken into people's houses and slipped on a skateboard have sued homeowners and "Won"...even though they were breaking the law at the time of the accident...
GlockG22Shoots40s
10:02 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
huh hut... you said cum...
pdl
10:48 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
I love the mug shots part of these stories...like this kid who stole Donald Trumps comb over.
black butterfly98
11:32 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Lol
black butterfly98
11:47 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Huuuh Huuuh.. In my bevis & butt-head voice..lmmfao
Droncz87
8:50 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Beavis and Butthead* Get it right.
Gjdinceksksnf
9:47 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
..... began talking to the lawyer as soon as the states attorney stated it would be better than them pushing the criminal charges. Maybe you all don't understand how long the process is and shouldn't be so ignorant.
....she doesn't smoke weed and has no criminal charges on her record, works two jobs and attends school. ...Jacob is a criminal with repeated offenses on his record (too many to count), he doesn't deserve to be free to carry on his way of distruction
...the court date was two months after the incident and the cast was off. It was not only a broken arm it was broken in three spots with a neck injury and a tear in the shoulder cartilage.
....there is a huge amount of debt incurred to someone who had no idea what the fight was even about.
Please don't speak so ignorantly without knowing the actual facts. Thank you.
GlockG22Shoots40s
10:32 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
"...she doesn't smoke weed and has no criminal charges on her record"
If she was hangin with a pot head, I'd bet the farm she was one too... maybe not now, and maybe never got caught. I never got caught, doesn't mean I didn't do it. I didn't know anyone that hung with the group I did that didn't smoke weed.
You're fooling yourself if you think you know all the "facts"..
Kevin S
8:10 pm on Saturday, February 2, 2013
Maybe she didn't know what the fight was about (that this stupid punk tried to jack one of his customers) but she damn well knew she was on a ride along for a dope deal. Sometimes these meetings don't go so well sweetheart, suck it up and take it as a lesson. When you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas. THAT, is an actual fact.
REDJOKKER
1:06 pm on Thursday, January 31, 2013
I'm with Glock. If she didn't smoke or was a most against it she wouldn't ride along out of pure fear of being pulled over. an ounce isn't a small crime. They would probably charge everyone in the car at first until one of them snitched. I have heard of miracles but you break your arm and cause collar bone injuries and your out of a cast without a soft cast 2 months later?? Must be drinking her milk.
Dawn
11:58 am on Friday, February 1, 2013
$360.00 an ounce?
CCWLawabidingcitzen
5:37 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
yea someone got overcharged dawn
RE
8:52 am on Saturday, February 2, 2013
Vertically none of the details of this article are accurate haha
Guess this reporter sucks.
Flora Dora
3:24 pm on Saturday, February 2, 2013
Vertically? Right, RE, and how would YOU know?
Hartz
7:34 pm on Saturday, February 2, 2013
I would imagine the 'clean hands doctrine' applies here.
I'd be interested in hearing how this case turns out.