PARK RIDGE (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A former Chicago Police Sergeant goes on trial next week in Park Ridge on charges of aggravated battery and official misconduct nearly a year after pinning a 14-year-old boy to the ground.
Cell phone video of the incident involving Michael Vitellaro was widely circulated.
He’s seen kneeling on the back of the 14-year-old after accusing the boy of trying to steal his son’s bike outside a Starbucks.
His mother Nicole Nieves said at the time her son was moving the bike out of the way.
“We see a scared yet controlled and eerily calm child underneath the force of a grown-man, pressing down on him excessively,” Nieves said.
Nieves said it was racial profiling of a boy of Puerto Rican descent.
Vitellaro was fired after a 22-year career.
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