By Ariel Cheung

Steven Pillow Jr. says police kicked him repeatedly during a July 2013 arrest.

Pillow, 29, is charged with sexually assaulting his 15-year-old babysitter repeatedly for eight months.

Police arrested Pillow last year after he had contact with the victim and fled from officers.

A Grand Chute man charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a child is suing the city of Appleton after he said police kicked him in the face repeatedly during an arrest last year.

Steven D. Pillow Jr., 29, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Tuesday. The complaint alleges an Appleton police officer and a lieutenant tackled Pillow, drove his face into the concrete and repeatedly kicked him in the face on July 23, 2013. Pillow also said the same officers ordered hospital staff to apply a catheter against Pillow's will, causing him great physical and mental pain.

Outagamie County prosecutors said Pillow fled from police on July 16, 2013, after having illegal contact with his teenage victim, then resisted arrest a week later. Police said Pillow hit his head on the concrete during a seizure and thrashed about during the arrest.

Pillow pleaded his case to an Outagamie County judge in a September 2013 letter.

"As far as resisting, I did run, but was caught almost immediately and I surrendered," Pillow wrote. "I was only moving to protect myself from being kicked in the face multiple times. My booking photo will show I received severe injuries from (the lieutenant) kicking my face."

Pillow was hospitalized and said he was under medical observation at the jail for two days due to "severe concussion symptoms." In his jail mugshot taken July 24, Pillow is bloodied and has a black eye that is swollen shut.

Arrest after trying to flee

Pillow is scheduled for a plea hearing Aug. 15 for charges of repeated sexual assault of a child and child enticement. Last year, police said Pillow had a sexual relationship with his 15-year-old babysitter. The girl told police Pillow would ask her to stay at his place overnight, according to the criminal complaint. Pillow denies ever having sex with the girl.

Less than a month after a judge lowered Pillow's cash bond to allow his release, a Fox Valley Metro police officer saw him walking across the street from the babysitter in Little Chute on July 16. At one point, Pillow crossed the street and began walking in front of her, court records state.

The officer confronted Pillow, who said he was not with the girl. When the officer told Pillow to put his hands behind his back, Pillow ran away. The girl later told the officer it was a coincidence they were on the same street.

One week later, Appleton police were called to the Valley Transit center in the city's downtown, where Pillow had a seizure. After he was treated, he said he didn't want to go to the hospital and asked to be released. Fox Valley Metro police were en route to arrest Pillow for the prior incident, and two Appleton officers tried to detain him, but he ran away, police said.

The two officers chased Pillow and stopped him at Oneida and Franklin streets, pushing him to the ground, the complaint states. Pillow struggled and threw his head back and forth, apparently trying to strike the lieutenant, police said. He was handcuffed and taken to the hospital to treat injuries.

A hospital drug test found cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and opiates in Pillow's system, court records state.

Pillow imprisoned for contacting victim

After Pillow pleaded no contest to resisting an officer and jumping bail for the July 16 incidents, a judge sentenced him in March to 15 months in prison. He is incarcerated at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution.

The July 23 charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Pillow faces 40 years in prison if convicted of the sexual assault and enticement charges

The federal case is Pillow's third lawsuit against law enforcement. In December, he sued the Outagamie County Sheriff's Department for personal injury. Two months later, he sued Appleton and the same two officers named in the federal case for personal injury. He voluntarily dismissed both lawsuits.

Pillow's attorney in the federal lawsuit declined to comment on the case. Pillow is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.

— Ariel Cheung: 920-993-1000, ext. 430, or acheung@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @arielfab.