A former Chicago Police officer has filed suit against Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and the former Park Ridge Police chief, saying he lost his job after he was wrongly charged with battery and subjected to a public campaign accusing him of racism and other smears for detaining a Park Ridge youth who he spotted with his son's stolen bike, even though the law gave him the authority to do so.
On June 10, Michael Vitellaro filed a lawsuit in Chicago federal court, naming as defendants Foxx, the city of Park Ridge, former Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski, Cook County and Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lynn McCarthy.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of malicious prosecution and violation of his rights by allegedly arresting him and charging him without cause.
The lawsuit stems from the decision by Park Ridge Police in 2022 to arrest Vitellaro and Cook County prosecutors to charge him with felony aggravated criminal battery and official misconduct.
Vitellaro was ultimately found not guilty at trial.
According to the complaint, Vitellaro's problems began on July 1, 2022, when Vitellaro's son called Vitellaro to tell him someone had stolen his bicycle from in front of the Park Ridge Public Library in the city of Park Ridge, a suburban community that adjoins Chicago's Northwest Side.
According to the complaint, Vitellaro, who was a sergeant with the Chicago Police Department, then drove from his home in Chicago to Park Ridge and helped his son report the bike stolen to police. He then drove with his son through Park Ridge, searching for the missing bike.
According to the complaint, the Vitellaros found the bicycle in the possession of a "young man," identified only as J.N.
Vitellaro then confronted J.N., allegedly identified himself as a police officer, and detained J.N. until Park Ridge officers could arrive on the scene. Officers did not arrest J.N. or anyone else on the scene, but conducted interviews and took down names and other information for further investigation.
In the days and weeks following the incident, however, friends and acquaintances of J.N. and others launched a campaign on social media and elsewhere calling for Vitellaro's arrest, the complaint said.
"Hundreds of community members participated in this public social discourse demanding the arrest of Michael Vitellaro," the complaint said. "Hundreds of community members engaged in public displays of solidarity with the demand for the arrest of Michael Vitellaro.
"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; scores 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."
Accoridng to the complaint, these activists accused Park Ridge Police of racism and "covering up criminal activity by a fellow law enforcement officer."
The complaint does not identify J.N.'s race.
On Aug. 16, 2022, after weeks of public agitation, McCarthy, acting under Foxx's authority, charged Vitellaro criminally.
According to the complaint, the Cook County State's Attorney's office did so despite plain language in state law authorizing Vitellaro, as a Chicago Police Officer, to take action upon witnessing a suspected crime. In this instance, the complaint said, Vitellaro witnessed J.N. in possession and control of stolen property, a criminal act.
After being charged criminally, Vitellaro was relieved of his duties as sergeant by the Chicago Police.
Vitellaro was found not guilty on June 16, 2023, following a trial in Cook County Circuit Court.
Vitellaro's suit accuses the defendants of being "deliberately indifferent" to Vitellaro's rights "by failing to act to avoid or terminate criminal proceedings against (Vitellaro)" even when they became aware that Vitellaro was authorized by law to detain J.N. in that moment and "for which he was criminally charged."
The complaint asserts the charges and prosecutions violated his rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments "for the improper purpose of satisfying the desires of the community that (Vitellaro) be arrested ... intentionally, and in total disregard of the truth and (Vitellaro's) innocence."
Kaminski retired May 18, 2023.
Vitellaro is seeking court orders requiring the defendants to pay unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorney fees.
Vitellaro is represented in the case by attorneys Tim Biasiello and the firm of DiFranco & Associates, both of Park Ridge.