Brandon Kelly Is Not A Criminal: 2 Resisting Arrest Charges Dropped

JOLIET — Will County Judge Sherri Hale recently signed off on court documents to bring Brandon Kelly's criminal case to an end at the Will County Courthouse. The judge dismissed the two counts of resisting a peace officer that were lodged against the owner of Joliet's Undisputed fitness club.

Two weeks from today marks the ominous one-year anniversary of Kelly's violent confrontation with several Joliet Police officers. The Essington Road business owner was instructing his early morning exercise class when several Joliet police officers arrived to investigate very loud music being played inside Kelly's Undisputed Gym.

Kelly came outside and began swearing at the officers, ordering them to get off his property and to stop harassing his business. The pre-sunrise confrontation turned violent when the officers followed Kelly inside his Undisputed gym after Kelly warned them not to.

A scuffle broke out, and Joliet police officers used a Taser to subdue Kelly, who was arrested right in front of about a dozen people attending his fitness class.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office subsequently filed two counts of resisting a peace officer against Kelly.

The complaint indicated that on Sept. 27, 2023, Kelly knowingly resisted the performance of Officer Allen Pina "being the arrest of defendant ... in that said defendant pushed Allen Pina." The second charge indicates that Kelly knowingly resisted the performance of Nicholas Szalinski "being the arrest of the defendant ... in that said defendant pulled away from Nicholas Szalinski."

When the case came before Judge Hale earlier this month on the matter of trial, Will County prosecutors made a motion to drop their pending criminal complaint against Kelly. The judge granted the prosecution's motion and ordered that the complaint be dismissed.

"The file is ordered closed," Judge Hale declared in court records dated Sept. 4.

Kelly was represented by one of Will County's most prolific criminal defense lawyers, Chuck Bretz. Bretz said he presented the prosecution with several examples of Illinois case law showing why the resisting arrest charges against Kelly were improper.

Bretz told Joliet Patch he was very pleased that the Will County prosecutors came to the realization that Kelly's charges were improper to go to a jury trial.

The body camera video of Kelly being tasered by Joliet police can be seen in its entirety at the bottom of this Joliet Patch article. In the video, Kelly can be seen coming out of Undisputed Strength as he begins swearing and shouting at the Joliet police to get off his property. They were interrupting his fitness class he was teaching, Kelly tells them in the video.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Owner of Undisputed Gym Tased By Joliet Police, 2 Charges Filed