Politics
Chicago Paid $100K to 14-Year-Old Boy Pinned to Park Ridge Sidewalk by Off-Duty CPD Sergeant: Records
A still from the video posted on Facebook by Nicole Nieves, the teen’s mother. (Provided)
Chicago taxpayers paid $100,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by the family of a Park Ridge teen who was pinned to a sidewalk by an off-duty Chicago police sergeant more than three years ago, an incident that was captured on a video that went viral, records show.
Chicago Police Sgt. Michael Vitellaro was acquitted by a Cook County judge on felony charges of aggravated battery and official misconduct in connection with the incident that began when his son told him on July 1, 2022, that his bicycle had been stolen from outside the Park Ridge Public Library.
Vitellaro, who was off-duty at the time of the incident, located the bicycle outside a coffee shop, and forced the teen he saw with the bicycle down to the pavement and pinned him there. The teen testified during Vitellaro’s trial that he thought he was going to die.
The teen’s mother, Nicole Nieves, posted a video of the incident involving her son outside the Starbucks on Northwest Highway on Facebook, where it quickly went viral with the help of celebrity news organization TMZ. Nieves wrote that she believed her son was singled out by the now former sergeant because her son is Puerto Rican.
Had the settlement been even one dollar more, it would have required Chicago City Council approval under city rules. Instead, it was authorized by Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson Lowry.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigated the incident and determined Vitellaro violated six department rules and used excessive force against the teen. Vitellaro, who was hired by CPD in 2000, also “made multiple false reports regarding the incident,” according to the probe.
Leaders of the agency charged with investigating police misconduct that is known as COPA, recommended Vitellaro be fired in March 2023. In March 2024, Vitellaro resigned from the department.
Vitellaro will earn an annual city taxpayer-funded pension of more than $76,000 for the rest of his life, according to records obtained by WTTW News.
Illinois law allows the boards overseeing pension funds to strip employees of their pensions only if they are convicted of a felony “relating to or arising out of or in connection with” their job committed while employed by a state or local government agency.
After a bench trial, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Paul Pavlus ruled that Vitellaro acted reasonably when he grabbed the teen and forced him to the ground because the teen was on Vitellaro’s son’s stolen bicycle and appeared to be in the process of riding away. However, the teen testified he was simply moving the stolen bicycle to make way for his own bicycle, which he had with him.
The teen’s credibility was also hurt by his family’s decision to set up an online fundraiser, with a goal of raising $10,000, and their decision to immediately retain a lawyer with a long track record of suing the city of Chicago for police misconduct, Pavlus ruled.
A representative of Antonio Romanucci, the lawyer for the Nieves family, declined to comment on the settlement in response to a request from WTTW News.
Vitellaro was charged with official misconduct for filing an official report that said the teen ended up on the sidewalk after falling while fleeing. The judge also heard evidence from the teen’s friends that Vitellaro did not immediately identify himself as a police officer.
Vitellaro’s attorney said he had probable cause both as an off-duty police officer and as a citizen to detain the teen and accused former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx of charging him because she was biased against Chicago police officers.
A 2017 investigation by the Department of Justice found Chicago Police officers routinely violated the constitutional rights of Black and Latino Chicagoans. A 2021 audit by Chicago’s inspector general found Chicago officers were more likely to use more force against Latino people than White Chicagoans, according to the report.
The Chicago Police Department’s use of force policy requires officers to “avoid sitting, kneeling, or standing on a subject’s chest, which may reduce the subject’s ability to breathe” and directs officers to “whenever feasible” not to force the subject “to lie on his or her stomach.”
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
