Crime & Safety

Hyungseok Koh Proceeds With Federal Suit Against Police

After a Cook County jury found Koh not guilty in the 2009 death of his son Paul, the Koh family is moving forward with a civil suit against Northbrook police.

The family of Hungseok Koh has filed a federal lawsuit against eight Northbrook poilce officers and one Wheeling police officer for violating Koh's constitutional rights after Koh's 2009 arrest in the investigation of his son's death, the Northbrook Star reports.

The suit accuses police of false arrest, coercive interrogation, demands a jury trial and judgement of $100,000 compensatory damages, $50,000 punitive damages, plus attorneys’ fees and cost, the Northbrook Star reports.

Hyungseok Koh was found not guilty by a Cook County jury Monday on all counts related to the death of his 22-year-old son, Paul Koh, in 2009, the Chicago Tribune reports. 

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Koh had allegedly confessed to the murder, but his lawyer sowed doubt in the jurors' mindsthat Koh, whose native language is Korean, fully understood what police were asking him, the article says. 

The alleged confession came while Koh was in police custody shortly after his son's April 16, 2009 death, when Paul Koh was found stabbed in the doorway of the Kohs’ Birch Road home.

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Northbrook Police responded to the Koh residence around 3:44 a.m. that day after Hyungseok Koh called 911. When they arrived, Koh ran out of his garage door screaming, then brought officers to his front door, where his son lay dead in a pool of blood, according to court documents.

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