Jan. 04--Escaping painful memories of their daughter's fatal accident two years earlier, Maxine and Pinkney James II left their longtime home in west suburban Bellwood in the fall of 2002 to begin anew about 10 miles south in Willowbrook.
But since moving to the predominantly white suburb, the black couple and their adult son say, they have endured physical attacks, racial taunts, hate mail, threatening phone calls, attempted break-ins and vandalism. They say an apathetic police force has turned a blind eye to their complaints and conspired with neighbors to try to force the family to move.
In a federal lawsuit filed last month, the James family accused Willowbrook police officers of excessive force, false arrest, deprivation of property rights and discrimination. The suit also names several neighbors on their Martin Drive cul-de-sac who the Jameses allege incited hatred.
After years of frustration and fear, the family plans to put their six-bedroom home up for sale, said Maxine James, 58. She said the suit is a last resort to seek justice.
"I love my home," she said Friday, "but I don't feel safe here. They treat us like we're nobody, like we're trash. But we're not bad people. They just won't accept us."
Village Administrator Timothy Halik said town officials hadn't been served with the suit, but added that such allegations are taken seriously and will be investigated. The village made available to the Tribune hundreds of pages of police documents related to officers' handling of myriad complaints the Jameses have made through the years.
The internal records also document complaints against the Jameses by four other families in the cul-de-sac who told police they are "terrified" to walk or drive past the James home because the mother and son have threatened them for no reason. Another neighbor told the Tribune that the family's problems are "all in their head."
After years of discord, police officials reached out to the DuPage County state's attorney's office in November 2009 to investigate the family's allegations of racism. David Day, who heads the office's criminal investigations, confirmed that Willowbrook officials sought an independent review but said the James family never followed up. Family members, however, said they did reach out to prosecutors to no avail.
Pinkney James II, a longtime utility worker, said the family was well-regarded in Bellwood, a predominantly black community. A street there was given honorary designation in memory of the couple's daughter, Anita, a nurse killed less than two weeks before her 23rd birthday in a July 2000 car accident. Maxine James volunteered in local programs such as neighborhood watch, Bellwood Mayor Frank Pasquale said.
"There were never any problems here," Pasquale said. "She was a good neighbor."
The Jameses said problems began soon after they moved to Willowbrook, a town of about 8,500 where 4.7 percent residents are black, according to census data. Their ranch-style home in an affluent subdivision had a listed sale price of nearly $400,000 when the family bought it and sits on a three-quarters-acre lot that is set back from the bustling major streets nearby.
In the first incident cited in the lawsuit, the Jameses said they found animal blood smeared across their driveway and doorway in March 2003. In the months that followed, someone shot a pellet gun into the house, and their Range Rover and Mercedes-Benz were vandalized, the suit states.
As the problems escalated, the James family said, they reached out to Willowbrook police, but officers often sided with the people against whom they had complained.
After one altercation in 2006, according to the suit, a police officer told them, "The people want the neighborhood to stay nice and they love their homes and they don't want you people ruining that."
They allege another officer called the Jameses "gangbangers who hadn't been caught yet." The same officer also said the "CC" on Maxine James' Coco Chanel sunglasses were initials for a Chicago street gang, according to the complaint.
"It's very hurtful," said the couple's adult son, Pinkney James III. "You wouldn't assume in this day and age people would think like this. We shouldn't have to live under some stereotype that all black people are gangbangers or drug dealers. Everyone should be judged as an individual."
The Jameses said they also have received anonymous hate mail, including one handwritten letter in March 2009 stating: "You better sale your house (racial slur) or I will sale it for you. This is my neighbor hood and county. Go back to the ghetto. I mean business." The Tribune also reviewed anonymous racist remarks about the family posted on an Internet site.
Police Chief Mark Shelton, who served as deputy chief during most of the period covered in the complaint, "refused to investigate, protect, prosecute or report" many incidents, the suit alleges.
Village Trustee Dennis Baker, a retired 30-year Cook County sheriff's police lieutenant, defended the town and police force.
"This is a wonderful little town," he said. "Knowing the men and women of the Police Department and their educational level and commitment they have, I have to guess they did everything as right as they could."
Village officials supplied the Tribune with more than 200 pages of internal police records documenting the department's meetings and interactions with the James family. Officers often cited a lack of evidence that prevented further action and advised all the parties to avoid contact with each other. Police notified the U.S. postal inspector to investigate the hate mail, but no arrests were made, according to the documents.
Maxine James began calling police within months of moving into the neighborhood, asking them to investigate suspicious cars, suspicious solicitors, possible drug activity or children outside playing near her property, according to the records. As alleged racial tensions grew between neighbors, the homeowner wrote letters to former Willowbrook police Chief Ed Konstanty seeking more diversity training for his officers.
The lawsuit alleges police laughed and did nothing when an unknown man attacked Maxine James as she washed her car in her driveway in July 2009, but the police report said officers canvassed the neighborhood in search of a suspect. And police said she declined their request to come into the police station to work on a composite sketch. The Jameses denied that.
In some of the internal police reports, various neighbors accuse Maxine James and her son of being the instigators. They allege Maxine James threatened them with a gun or that the son flashed gang signs as they walked or drove past the family's home. But the Jameses said the neighbors made up claims.
The lawsuit also states police used excessive force against the mother and son in December 2009 while arresting them in a dispute that began when a neighbor accused them of throwing a snowball at her car during an unprovoked altercation. The police "struck, beat and shoved the plaintiffs," according to the lawsuit. Pinkney James III said that they were cited with disorderly conduct but that the charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.
There was no record of their arrest in the DuPage County Circuit Court clerk's files, but a police report said the case was dismissed as part of a no-contact order in which the parties agreed to stay away from each other.
One of the neighbors named as a defendant in the lawsuit, George Schwertfeger, 39, was convicted of a local ordinance violation for disorderly conduct after a March 2011 altercation at a grocery with Maxine James in which he made a racial slur and threatened, "Remember what happened last time. This time it will be worse," according to court records. Schwertfeger was placed on court supervision and fined $250.
He did not respond to Tribune requests for comment. His former attorney, Chris Stefanos, said, "In that case, there was no assertion of a hate crime whatsoever."
Most other neighbors also declined to comment for fear of retribution, they said. The neighbor who said the allegations were "all in their head" added there is "absolutely no truth" to the lawsuit. But the Jameses' attorney, Scott Kamin, said his clients are an educated "middle-class, hard-working family" with no criminal records who are being treated like criminals.
The lawsuit seeks more than $3.5 million in damages.
Family members said they feel like they are living in a prison, complete with an elaborate home security system.
"I didn't do anything wrong," said Maxine James, her son by her side. "I just wanted to live here."
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