CHICAGO — Cook County prosecutors have asked a federal judge to toss out a civil rights lawsuit filed by a former Chicago police officer who claims he was falsely charged with felonies for pinning a teenager to the ground while off duty in Park Ridge.
Michael Vitellaro was captured on a viral video kneeling on the back of a 14-year-old boy who he falsely suspected of having stolen his son’s bicycle.
Seven weeks after the July 2022 incident, prosecutors charged him with a pair of felony charges — aggravated battery and official misconduct. The department relieved him of police powers and opened an internal investigation, Patch reported at the time.
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A judge found Vitellaro not guilty of all criminal charges following a June 2023 bench trial in Skokie. Cook County Circuit Judge Paul Pavlus said he did not believe testimony from the teens, believed Vitellaro had probable cause to act as he did and said he hoped the officer can “put this behind you.”
About a week later, the family of the Park Ridge teenager who he was recorded pinning on the ground sued him in civil court, alleging counts of false imprisonment, negligence, assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and willful and wanton conduct in a complaint filed in Cook County.
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Vitellaro, 51, retired from the Chicago Police Department as a sergeant in March, allowing him to keep his retirement benefits despite a recommendation from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability that he be fired.
The department’s chief agreed with the COPA recommendation that Vitellaro be fired for, among other things, using excessive force and then lying about it.
After avoiding termination by quitting before the police board acted on that recommendation, Vitellaro retained Park Ridge attorney Tim Biasiello and sued Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Assistant State’s Attorney Lynn McCarthy and Park Ridge officials for malicious prosecution.
His complaint alleges they pursued charges against him without probable cause in order to appease those loudly demanding his arrest.
Last month, Foxx filed a motion to dismiss Vitellaro’s suit. And McCarthy, the prosecutor who approved felony charges against him, filed her motion to dismiss it on Monday.
Foxx, who is leaving office later this year after two terms as the chief prosecutor of the nation’s second-largest court system, argued that she is immune from liability for continuing an ongoing prosecution.
The state’s attorney also pointed out that Vitellaro’s lawsuit is wrong to suggest she is the final policymaker when it comes to criminal prosecutions, fails to provide enough detail to establish a plausible claim and fails to allege that she was involved in his case at all.
McCarthy noted that prosecutors have such broad immunity from civil liability for anything they do in the context of criminal justice.
Federal appeals courts have found that prosecutors have absolute immunity from civil rights lawsuits “even if he initiates charges maliciously, unreasonably, without probable cause, or even on the basis of false testimony or evidence,” as the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found.
The only question at issue, according to McCarthy’s motion, is whether she was acting as an advocate for the state at the time.
“The answer is unequivocally, yes, and there is no need to belabor the point, according to the Seventh Circuit, since it is well-settled that charging decisions are quintessential functions of a prosecutor,” McCarthy argued.
As judges have explained in previous cases, it does not matter whether she authorized the charges against Vitellero with or without probable cause — or whether she did so to satisfy public outcry.
“Indeed, prosecutorial immunity is absolute,” McCarthy said, “and a prosecutor is protected by it for her functions as an advocate for the state regardless of the circumstances.”
Attorneys for the city of Park Ridge and Frank Kaminski, its former police chief, have asked for more time to respond to Vitellaro’s allegations. Patch has requested comment from Vitellaro’s attorney.
Earlier: Ex-Chicago Cop Who Pinned Teen In Park Ridge Sues City, County Officials For Charging Hi
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