Sgt. Michael Vitellaro

A Cook County judge on Friday, June 16 found an off-duty Chicago police sergeant not guilty of misconduct and aggravated battery in connection with the case where the officer pinned a teen to the ground in Park Ridge.

Circuit Court Judge Paul Pavlus ruled that Sgt. Michael Vitellaro was not guilty of official misconduct and aggravated battery in the case which grabbed headlines when a video surfaced showing the off-duty Chicago police sergeant kneeling on a teen, pinning him on a sidewalk. The officer was in pursuit of his son’s stolen bike, according to court testimony.

James McKay, Vitellaro’s defense attorney, told the Cook County Chronicle that there was so much more to the case than the video snippet.

“Keep in mind that there is a 10-second video of (Vitellaro) kneeling on the teen’s back. People saw the optic and were outraged,” McKay said. “That 10-second video was 1 percent of the evidence in the case. It is wrong to ignore the rest of the case, to ignore what came before, during and after that video.

“The lies in the state witnesses’ testimony, their prior inconsistencies, it presented reasonable doubt to say the least.”

The Chicago attorney said the judge’s ruling was simply based on evidence and law.

“It was very clear if you saw all three days of the trial that that was the only ruling there could be,” McKay said.

The attorneys representing the family of the Park Ridge teen, said in a statement that they are continuing to pursue the case in civil court.

“Michael Vitellaro escaped criminal justice today,” the lawyers said after Friday’s verdict. “He also escaped a jury trial by exercising his right to a bench trial, knowing full well the odds of a favorable outcome were improved. However, he will not be able to escape our pursuit of justice in the civil courts, and we plan on mounting a vigorous prosecution to bring him to justice.

“The judge today created a story that this child was somehow on the bike, despite no video evidence of that being true, to justify his not guilty ruling and exonerate this Chicago police officer.”

The family was represented by attorneys Antonio Romanucci, Bhavani Raveendran and Javier Rodriguez.

The lawyers said they will keep attention in the case squarely on the conduct of the officer.

“The video of the incident is clear; Vitellaro’s conduct shocked the community and decent people around the world,” the attorneys said in a statement. “Vitellaro assaulted a 14-year-old boy in broad daylight without cause and (Vitellaro’s) treatment of our client was a clear overreach, an overreaction and an excessive use of force. This child was unarmed and presented zero physical threat to the officer.

“There is no doubt our young client was innocent and the trauma of this experience has indeed harmed him emotionally. We are quite disappointed that Judge Pavlus chose not to see Vitellaro’s conduct met the threshold for aggravated battery or official misconduct.”

Defense attorney McKay said all the actions his client took in trying to recover stolen property was by the book.

“Everything he did, it is all the techniques taught at the academy. He did nothing wrong,” McKay said. “The young man did not suffer a scratch.

“Evidence and the law matter in the courtroom, not noise on social media. Those people were not there.”