JOLIET, IL — Darryl Allen has been living inside Will County Jail’s since Joliet police arrested him in connection with an attack against two patrons of the Harrah’s Casino on March 24, 2018. He’s charged with attempted armed robbery, aggravated assault and aggravated battery.
Now, three years later, Allen is utilizing his skills as a jailhouse lawyer. Allen has filed a pro se civil lawsuit against Harrah’s Casino and Hotel seeking $10 million, plus a public apology.
A pro se lawsuit means the plaintiff does not have a lawyer. Practically all pro se civil lawsuits filed at the Will County Courthouse by convicted criminals or criminal defendants eventually get dismissed from the court docket by judges.
Allen’s complaint makes the following assertions:
“In March of 2018, I observed a man and a woman coming out of the front door of the Harrah’s Joliet Casino and I said to the lady ‘Did you have any luck tonight?’ The guy with her took acception (sic) to this and said to me, ‘That’s my wife your talking to (racial slur) and then he reached in his waist for what I thought was a weapon so I took a knife out to defend himself,” Allen’s lawsuit states.
According to Allen, “the guy pulled a phone out. Thank God. So I tried to get away from him. All the time he was chasing me he was hollering (racial slur) this and (racial slur) that. When I exited the garage onto Jefferson Street the casino’s security guards surrounded me and told me they needed me to cuff up. So I put my hands behind my back.”
While Allen was being handcuffed at the Harrah’s Casino property, “the guy that was chasing me stepped in front of me and said, ‘I told you I was going to get you (racial slur) and he hit me in the head knocking me down and out. I don’t know how long I was out. This incident was caught on the surveillance camera.”
Allen informed Will County’s judges that this incident “caused me injury to my head, my back and my knee. I suffered mentally also to the point where I’ve been on psych medicine since this happened.”
Furthermore, Allen’s lawsuit states that “I’ve had problems with the police but I am a honorably discharged Marine Corps veteran. I did not deserved (sic) to be treated so bad. I was the only black person there. I was laying on the ground as people walked around like I was garbage.”
According to Allen, the Harrah’s Casino security is at fault for everything that happened to him.
“Security could have prevented me from getting hurt if they wanted. But I was just another (racial slur). You will see this when you see the DVD,” Allen assured the judges.
“The man that hit me was never charged with any crime. Clearly, because he is a white man that hit a black man. I believe this to be a meritorious action,” Allen declared in his lawsuit.
What does Allen’s lawsuit seek from a Will County jury?
“Ten million dollars from each defendant. A public apology,” he wrote.
His lawsuit is against “Owners of Des Plaines Development Limited Partners Harrah’s Casino and Hotel.”
Allen’s two-page lawsuit ends by stating the following: “Hopefully you have enough to file my case, this is everything. And, will you be giving me an attorney which is very much needed. Thank you, Darryl B. Allen Sr.”
For nearly three entire years, Allen, now 59, remains incarcerated unable to post 10 percent of his $150,000 bail.
In March 2018, Joliet Patch reported that the 56-year-old Allen was accused of trying to rob a woman at knifepoint at Harrah’s casino, and he was arrested in connection with the armed robbery attempt.
On the afternoon of Saturday, March 24, 2018, Allen walked up to a 35-year-old woman at the valet entrance to the casino, held a knife to her throat and said he was going to rob her, according news reports. The woman was able to get away, Joliet police said at the time.
On March 30, 2020, Joliet Patch reported that the woman who was victimized filed a civil lawsuit against Caesar’s Entertainment Corp. and Harrah’s Joliet.
The Brookfield woman suffered a laceration to her neck caused by her attacker’s knife, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, agoraphobia, disfigurement, scarring, impaired ability to gain restful sleep, extensive hospitalization, psychological treatment, therapy plus the loss of past and future earning capacity, her lawsuit claims.
