Off-duty Chicago police officer charged after video shows him kneeling on teen's back

CNN

August 19, 2022

A Chicago police sergeant was charged Thursday with felony official misconduct and aggravated battery six weeks after video surfaced showing him holding a 14-year-old boy in the prone position with his knee while he was off-duty in Park Ridge, Illinois, according to Park Ridge police.

Michael Vitellaro, 49, who has worked for the Chicago Police Department since 2000, got information his son's bike was stolen from the local library and then seen at a nearby Starbucks, according to a criminal complaint filed August 18 in Cook County that led to the charges.

The off-duty officer drove his son to the Starbucks where he saw his son's bike on the sidewalk, leaning up against a pillar. He "waited in his car to hopefully observe who had stolen the bicycle," according to the criminal complaint.