JEFFERSON PARK — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a woman who claimed Ald. John Arena pushed and poked her after she refused to remove a button promoting a rival campaign at an unveiling of several honorary street signs, officials said Monday.
Regina Przyby, of Jefferson Park, told police Arena pushed, poked and verbally assaulted her in September 2014 after telling her to remove a button supporting Chicago Police Lt. John Garrido, who unsuccessfully challenged Arena for the 45th Ward seat on the Chicago City Council in April.
Cook County Judge Irwin Solganick dismissed the case before it reached trial.
Przyby is out of the country and not reachable, her husband Wayne Przyby said Monday.
Sean Baker, Przyby's attorney, said his client does not plan to ask the judge to reconsider his ruling or appeal his decision.
No criminal charges were ever filed in the case.
The suit, filed in January 2015, claimed Arena's actions injured Przyby, cost her money and inflicted emotional suffering, according to the lawsuit. It sought at least $50,000 in damages. It also named the City of Chicago as a defendant, alleging the incident took place while Arena was acting in his official capacity.
A spokesman for the city's Law Department did not return a phone message about the case.
At the time it was filed, a spokeswoman for Arena said the lawsuit was politically motivated and wholly without merit.
Arena said he asked Przyby to remove the button supporting Garrido, telling her that the ceremony renaming several streets near Lawrence and Milwaukee avenue in honor of the area's Polish community was not an appropriate place for politics. The renaming was part of the 2014 Taste of Polonia festival at the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave.
Przyby said Arena poked her on the left side of her chest with his finger, told her to go away and called her an "evil b----," according to the police report. Arena then pushed her with his shoulder, Przyby told police.
In the report she made to police, Przyby said she refused to remove the button, citing her First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
As she turned to walk away, Przyby told police Arena "shoved her back with his hands, pushing her" and called her an an "evil b----" again, according to the report, which Przyby filed in person at the Jefferson Park Police District station less than an hour after the incident.
Arena said that while about a dozen people were lined up for photographs for local newspapers, Przyby pushed her way to the front of the line and made "incidental contact" with both him and his wife.
Arena defeated Garrido in the April runoff with 53 percent of the vote.
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