Kurt Nicklas <namblamember@gop.org> wrote in
news:so1jsm$du4$93@news.dns-netz.com:

> edell@post.com wrote
>
>> I still have an Obama dildo that I stick up my ass.

A Chicago Police sergeant charged with two counts of official misconduct
and one count of aggravated battery for grabbing a Park Ridge 14-year-old
and pinning him down on the sidewalk last summer was found not guilty on
all three counts Friday by Judge Paul Pavlus in Cook County Circuit Court.

Asked if he had a comment on the ruling as he left the courtroom, Sgt.
Michael Vitellaro, who was off-duty during the chain of events in Park
Ridge last July 1 that led to the charges, shook his head no.

His attorney James McKay commented, �Justice was done.�

�Sgt. Vitellaro and his family are very thankful that the judge did the
right thing,� he said. �Now Sgt. Vitellaro and his family can enjoy some
kind of normalcy in their lives.�

The mother of the boy expressed disbelief at the verdict and the family�s
attorneys said they plan to pursue a civil lawsuit against Vitellaro.

�My son gets attacked over a piece of property and somehow he�s the one
that�s wrong here?� the mother questioned.

During a three-day trial last week, prosecutors from the Cook County
state�s attorney�s office contended that Vitellaro went �rogue� and
overreacted with rage after his son�s bicycle was stolen and he saw the
teen handling it outside of a Starbucks in Park Ridge. McKay argued that
the charges against Vitellaro were overblown, calling the case �another
Kim Foxx special,� in reference to the Cook County state�s attorney who
has been criticized as an overzealous prosecutor of police officers.

Pavlus disagreed with the prosecution�s description of events in his
ruling.

�At no time [in video footage] did I see an out-of-control, enraged
individual as the state would want me to believe,� he said.

Viral video footage of the events, which circulated on social media, show
Vitellaro pressing his knee on the back of the 14-year-old and arguing
with onlookers. Vitellaro was relieved of his police powers Aug. 17, the
day before the Cook County state�s attorney�s office approved charges
against him, and has been on a leave of absence from the department.

As Pavlus delivered the verdict Friday, he said the crux of the case lay
in whether Vitellaro had had probable cause at the time to act as he did,
and said that after he reviewed the video evidence and testimony from the
case he thought Vitellaro had acted reasonably based on the information he
had.

Pavlus also said he doubted the veracity of the teenage witnesses�
testimonies.

He also said he saw the teen, who is now 15, appear confused while
testifying and look out into the gallery to his father �looking for what
he should say� at different points.

Pavlus observed that the boy�s friends who testified during trial all
sought to distance themselves from the boy who said he took the bike, and
commented he had to take into account that the teen victim�s parents
started an online fundraiser to raise money for the family in the wake of
the incident.

�I can�t just neglect the fact that there was a GoFundMe page with [the
boy�s] face smacked right there in the center,� he said.

Nor could he ignore the fact that the family had retained civil lawyers
shortly after the incident took place, he said.

To the teenagers who testified in the trial, Pavlus said �don�t let this
define you. I think you were confronted with so much outside distraction �
you lost your way,� he said.

Pavlus said the image of Vitellaro with his knee on the boy�s back was
�horrible� and that he would have been outraged as a parent had he seen
the picture.

But, he said, �a picture serves 1,000 emotions but doesn�t serve 1,000
words.�

�[The picture], in a bubble, could lead someone to think the defendant is
guilty of the crimes he has been charged with,� he continued. �That bubble
is broken in my courtroom.�

Lawyers for the teen, from the firm of Romanucci & Blandin, said they will
soon be contacting Vitellaro regarding a civil suit against him.

�Vitellaro will have to testify in that suit,� attorney Antonio Romanucci
added. �He will undergo cross examination and he will undergo continued
questioning. Then we�ll see what truth comes out.�

�This fight for justice is not over,� attorney Javier Rodriguez said,
adding that he saw the ruling as �a character assassination of a straight
A student.�

The boy�s mother said that while the ruling was not what the family had
hoped for, �we are within our right to continue to fight in the right
way... to stand strong and not be silenced about what happened to our son
over a bike.�

Romanucci called the ruling �appalling� and said the judge had made it an
indictment of the family as opposed to a ruling on the aggravated battery
and official misconduct charges.

Romanucci said Pavlus had �created a narrative� using the GoFundMe page
and used the fact, which was discussed during testimony, that the boy had
�miraculously� been in possession of stolen property.

The couple said they had not yet spoken to their son but that they planned
to tell him that the ruling and the case as a whole would not define him.

�We are going to tell him that we are still very proud of him,� his father
said. �Regardless of the outcome that happened today... we are going to
continue fighting for him.�

At issue during the contentious trial June 5-7 was whether Vitellaro had
probable cause to arrest the teen based on the information he had at the
time and whether the boy and his friends, all rising sophomores at Maine
South High School, were aware that he was a police officer when he used a
maneuver to take the boy down flat on the sidewalk.

Vitellaro used two restraint techniques known as an arm bar and a wrist
lock, according to police experts who testified at the trial.

Park Ridge police said soon after the incident occurred that the boy
Vitellaro is charged with battering did not take his son�s bike. Another
teenage witness confirmed during the trial that he had been the one to
take the bike, saying he had taken it for a joyride and leaned it against
a pillar where the incident unfolded. The boy apologized and expressed
regret.

Assistant State�s Attorneys Alyssa Janicki and Thomas Fryska argued that
Vitellaro had several less confrontational options available to him when
he saw his son�s missing bike at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and
Northwest Highway.

They also accused Vitellaro of lying or changing his story about what took
place, citing the fact that Vitellaro had filled out two police reports
the day after the incident took place, and did not check the box that
would denote the incident as a takedown in spite of saying as much to
investigating Park Ridge police the day before.

McKay accused the boy and his friends of colluding against Vitellaro and
of changing their stories on the witness stand, and accused the teen�s
mother of trying to make money off of the case.

During closing arguments, McKay said the boy�s mother had �dollar signs in
her eyes.�

�I don�t get it. Her son�s not injured in any way, shape or form � where
are the money damages?� he said.

McKay has a track record of defending police accused of wrongdoing. He
recently represented Chicago Police Lt. Wilfredo Roman, who was charged
with aggravated battery and official misconduct after Roman allegedly
shoved a flashlight between a teenager�s clothed buttocks during an
arrest. In 2019, McKay defended retired Chicago Police Detective David
March against allegations that he had falsified reports about the murder
of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. In each case, the officers were acquitted.

All three of the charges against Vitellaro were class three felonies under
Illinois law and carry a punishment ranging from probation to up to five
years in prison.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge/ct-prh-vitellaro-
verdict-tl-0622-20230616-ns6jvqypuvetfizu5msjwayfpi-story.html

In article <a53f0e08386e8ee3095827bfe65db934@dizum.com>, social_justice@splcenter.org
Social Justice says...
> I still have an Obama dildo that I stick up my ass.
>
>
Kinky.

--
GM