By Kim Janssen
Chicago Sun-Times
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Blind drunk on vodka, the teenage girl had to be held upright by the young men she was drinking with as she slumped head-down, eyes closed behind a suburban apartment complex.
But an Arlington Heights cop called to deal with the underage boozers let a 20-year-old felon and two drunken teenage boys carry the girl away without asking questions - and minutes later officers in neighboring Mount Prospect caught the males raping her in a laundry room, a lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.
The lawsuit - filed by attorneys for a victim identified as “Jane Doe” - alleges negligence by the Village of Arlington Heights and the officer, Mark Del Boccio.
It isn’t the first time former Chicago cop Del Boccio, 37, has been sued.
Del Boccio left the Chicago Police Department after he ran over two kids with his squad car in 2004 - killing one and permanently injuring the other. The family of the dead 8-year-old boy in that case, Gregory Jones, alleges in a pending lawsuit that Del Boccio lied when he told his bosses he was in hot pursuit of a gunman at the time.
The Jane Doe’s attorneys say Del Boccio could have prevented the May 2009 rape if he had asked the males with the girl for ID, because one was on probation for armed robbery, and all three were underage for drinking. The officer also failed to offer the girl a ride or medical attention and told a security guard who’d dialed 911 that the males were taking the girl home, they allege.
Village officials should have done a background check on Del Boccio that revealed his earlier problems in Chicago, they say.
The 20-year-old, Christopher Balodimas, is serving a six-year sentence for criminal sexual assault after Mount Prospect officers caught him raping the girl at the apartment complex on the border of the two suburbs in the 900 block of East Golf Road, court records show.
The teenage boys were not charged, said Steven Gartski, the girl’s attorney.
Del Boccio and village officials declined to comment Wednesday