Lorraine Bailey | Courthouse News Service

CHICAGO (CN) – Three men arrested in the investigation of a veteran police officer’s death sued Fox Lake, Ill., claiming it had reason to know the officer’s death was a suicide, not a murder.

Officer Charles Joseph Gliniewicz of the Fox Lake Police Department was found dead on Sept. 1, 2015, in the woods along the village.

Immediately before his death, Gliniewicz radioed dispatchers that he was in pursuit of three suspects at an abandoned cement plant, according to court records.

When he was found shot with his own weapon, it was assumed that he was killed by one of the suspects.

Early media reports blamed the “Black Lives Matter” movement and tied Gliniewicz’s death to a “war on police.”

Thousands of people attended his funeral, and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner ordered the state to fly flags at half mast in his honor.

A massive manhunt with more than 400 police officers raked the woods near the lake, but searchers had no description of the purported murder suspects except Gliniewicz’s claim that he was chasing two “male whites” and one “male black.”

Three men caught up in this sweep – Raymond Willoughby, Damien Ward and Dan Cooper – sued the Village of Fox Lake, Police Chief Michael Behan, and John Doe police officers for arresting them without probable cause.

Their class-action complaint was filed Thursday in Chicago federal court.

Willoughby, Ward and Cooper were allegedly held up to 10 hours with no evidence tying them to the officer’s death.

Continue to full article at Courthouse News Service.