Ex-Chicago Cop Who Pinned Teen In Park Ridge Sues City, County Officials For Charging Him

CHICAGO — The Chicago police sergeant who was recorded kneeling on the back of a 14-year-old boy he suspected of stealing his son's bicycle this week filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against local authorities for charging him with a crime.

Michael Vitellaro was found not guilty by a judge of two counts of official misconduct and one count of aggravated battery following a three-day trial last June in Skokie.

In a 12-count complaint filed Monday, Vitellaro alleges that Park Ridge, its former Chief Frank Kaminski, Cook County, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and Assistant State's Attorney Lynn McCarthy detained him illegally, prosecuted him maliciously and intentionally caused him emotional distress.

"Kaminski, and the City of Park Ridge, caused the criminal proceedings to be initiated and caused them to be continued against [Vitellaro] for the improper purpose of satisfying the desires of the community that [he] be arrested," it alleges, "notwithstanding [their] awareness that the [he] was authorized to perform the acts for which he was charged, and [they] were aware of the absence of probable cause for the arrest, all of which resulted in injury to [him.]"

Vitellaro still faces a civil lawsuit from the family of the teen he detained, and the chief of Chicago police has concurred with the recommendation of civilian investigators that he be fired for using excessive force and lying about it, among other things.

The cell phone video recording of the off-duty officer holding the Maine South High School freshman to the ground outside the Starbucks at 100 S. Northwest Highway in Park Ridge on July 1, 2022, was shared widely online, with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, opening an investigation into potential wrongdoing after getting an inquiry from the celebrity news website TMZ.

Seven weeks after the incident, prosecutors approved criminal charges against Vitellaro.

The sergeant's complaint notes that many people wanted him to be arrested.

"Hundreds of community members participated in this public social discourse demanding the arrest of Michael Vitellaro; hundreds of community members engaged in public displays of solidarity with the demand for the arrest of Michael Vitellaro," alleged Park Ridge-based attorney Tim Biasiello.

"Many hundreds of symbolic orange colored ribbons were placed on village trees and other locations throughout the Village of Park Ridge in support of a 'paint the town orange' campaign demanding that Michael Vitellaro be arrested," Biasiello said. "[S]cores of community members personally appeared at subsequent Park Ridge Village Board Meetings, all proclaiming their anger at the Park Ridge Police Department for having failed to arrest and charge Michael Vitellaro for having engaged in criminal battery, insisting that the Park Ridge Police Department criminally charge Michael Vitellaro."

Vitellaro has been a Chicago police officer since 2000. Prior to the incident in Park Ridge, he was suspended for one day over a 2006 incident after a neglect of duty complaint against him was sustained. His only discipline in the last five years, according to COPA, was a reprimand over a November 2022 weapons or ammunition violation.

According to his lawsuit, Vitellaro "had a duty to perform the acts for which he was criminally charged," and authorities were "deliberately indifferent" to his rights.

The sergeant "suffered loss of liberty, great mental anguish, humiliation, degradation in the community and injury to his professional reputation, emotional pain and suffering, economic loss, and other continuing injuries and damages," allegedly as a result of the actions of police and prosecutors.

But even though Cook County Circuit Judge Paul Pavlus ruled that Vitellaro did not commit a crime, a COPA investigation into his conduct completed several months earlier found that he violated a half-dozen Chicago Police Department rules "when he used excessive force to detain [the teen,] engaged in unnecessary verbal and physical altercations, used unbecoming language, and made multiple false reports regarding the incident."

The report notes that he falsely claimed the boy had fallen while attempting to flee, even putting the untrue statement into an official Chicago police report. He changed his story once he learned there were video recordings of the incident.

"The inability to trust the truth of Sgt. Vitellaro’s statements goes directly to the core of his position as a police sergeant and undermines any future reports he might make," it found.

COPA found his use of excessive force against a child was "egregious."

"[The 14-year-old boy] did not pose a threat that Sgt. Vitellaro needed to stop. Instead, Sgt. Vitellaro sought to detain [him] based on reasonable articulable suspicion," the report found.

"While [the boy] may have pulled away when first grabbed, Sgt. Vitellaro was off duty, in normal civilian clothing, said nothing, did not identify himself as a police officer, and had not reported the theft to police. Sgt. Vitellaro took it upon himself to conduct surveillance and then physically accosted the first person he saw touching his son’s allegedly stolen bicycle," it said. "It is understandable that [the boy,] who was 14 years old, would be confused and pull away after being suddenly grabbed by an unknown adult man. Sgt. Vitellaro then escalated his force and performed an armbar and takedown on [him.]"

Despite the COPA recommendation that he be "separated from CPD," the Chicago Police Board has not taken action to fire Vitellaro, though his complaint notes that he was "relieved of his duties" as a sergeant after his arrest.

Vitellaro retired from the department, effective March 15, according to a district spokesperson, preventing city officials from firing him and allowing him to keep all his retirement benefits.

An initial status report on his federal case is due by July 26.

Days after Vitellaro was acquitted, the father of the boy he detained filed a civil suit against him and the city of Chicago in state court. An amended version of that complaint was filed in December. A case management hearing in the matter is scheduled for Sept. 16.

Read more:

• Family Sues Chicago, Cop Over Off-Duty Takedown Of Teen In Park Ridge
• Judge Acquits Off-Duty Chicago Cop For Pinning Park Ridge Teen Over Stolen Bike
• CPD Cop Charged 7 Weeks After Kneeling On Teen At Park Ridge Starbucks