CHICAGO _ A Cook County judge has acquitted Chicago Police Officer Robert Rialmo of beating two men in a tavern in December while he was on desk duty for the controversial fatal shooting of two people.
Judge Daniel Gallagher on Tuesday cleared Rialmo on two counts of misdemeanor battery stemming from the fight captured on video in a Far Northwest Side bar.
Rialmo had taken the stand earlier Tuesday to contend he punched the men in self-defense after one tried to take his jacket near closing time.
The city could still seek to discipline Rialmo in the altercation. He already faces potential firing for the 2015 shooting of bat-wielding 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier and bystander Bettie Jones, 55.
Just weeks ago, Rialmo faced a civil trial over lawsuits stemming from the shooting. As different as the two proceedings were, they were the same in one way _ Rialmo claimed he used force in self-defense.
The unusual two-day misdemeanor bench trial explored an altercation in December 2017 at Moretti's Ristorante & Pizzeria in the Edison Park neighborhood. The confrontation began as bargoer Atmiya Patel picked through coats on a chair, looking for his own, he testified. Patel acknowledged in court that the flannel jacket he thought was his was actually Rialmo's.
Bar surveillance footage aired in court shows Rialmo _ who was on paid desk duty for the shooting at the time _ pushing Patel, knocking him into a table and chairs and onto the floor. Rialmo then dropped Patel's friend, Brandon Stassen, with a punch to the face that knocked him unconscious, according to the footage and testimony. Patel then tried to regain his feet, but Rialmo laid him out with another punch. Rialmo was then rushed from view of the cameras.
Rialmo's lawyer, Joel Brodsky, argued to Gallagher that the men were drunk and unreasonable, Patel tried to take Rialmo's jacket and Stassen grabbed at his upper body. The attorney contended that Rialmo responded by defending himself and his property.
Brodsky put Rialmo on the stand Tuesday afternoon, and he sought to reinforce that defense. He said Patel appeared drunk and agitated as he insisted he was taking the jacket. Rialmo said Stassen approached with a bottle in his hand and the officer feared he planned to hit him in the head with it. Rialmo said he punched Patel again as he tried to get up because he feared he would charge him.
Brodsky also called to the stand two of Rialmo's longtime friends and hockey teammates who were at the tavern that night. Both said the men were aggressive and menacing to Rialmo, who was calm during the altercation.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, asked questions geared toward minimizing the threat Rialmo contended he faced. Assistant State's Attorney Maureen McCurry noted that Rialmo is a hockey player and police officer who was near several friends when the altercation happened. During her closing argument, she called his claim of self-defense "absurd."
"This isn't a bar fight, your honor," she said. "This is a bar attack."
Rialmo had faced a count of theft related to the dispute over the jacket, but prosecutors dropped that charge before the trial.
The battery trial was the second court proceeding to focus on a use of force by Rialmo in a span of weeks.
A trial over lawsuits stemming from Rialmo's shooting of LeGrier ended in confusion and acrimony last month. Jurors unanimously voted to award LeGrier's family slightly more than $1 million but contradicted their verdict by ruling that Rialmo reasonably believed he had to fire to protect himself from the teen as he approached officers with a baseball bat. The judge negated the verdict, though lawyers for the LeGrier family plan to challenge the ruling. The jury foreman has said the panel had intended to award the money to the family.
Rialmo also accidentally shot Jones, but the city avoided trial with her family by reaching a proposed $16 million settlement.
A battery conviction carries a maximum of a year in jail, though misdemeanors often do not result in time in custody. The city's Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police misconduct allegations, has yet to announce the findings of its investigation into the bar fight or any potential recommendation of discipline. An officer convicted of a felony cannot continue to work as a cop, but that prohibition does not automatically apply to misdemeanors.
The Chicago Police Board also has yet to determine if Rialmo should be fired for the fatal shooting.
