Chicago area attorney files civil lawsuit against federal agent for 2025 incident

A Chicago-area attorney announced he's filing a civil lawsuit against a federal agent for an incident that happened outside a Brookfield gas station last year.

Attorney Robert Held announced the lawsuit against federal agent Adam Saracco outside the Broadview ICE facility on Saturday.

Saracco was charged with misdemeanor battery for pushing Held to the ground in December 2025 at a gas station in Brookfield. Saracco pled guilty and was sentenced on Aug.12 to one year of court supervision.

Held says he is filing the lawsuit because he believes Saracco should have been charged with felony battery, not a misdemeanor.

"He admitted to the police that he was trying to get my cell phone in order to delete the video that I had taken of him,"  Held said. "Taking any video on a public sidewalk is protected First Amendment activity. Attacking someone on a public sidewalk is a felony, and attacking someone who appears to be over the age 60 is also a felony."

Last October, Held was taken into custody along with five other protesters outside of the facility, where he was detained for eight hours, but not charged.