Civil cop beating case set for trial
WOODSTOCK – The federal lawsuit that sparked a series of criminal charges against off-duty police officers who beat a handcuffed man outside a Fox Lake bar is set for trial Monday.
Ryan Hallett is seeking unlimited damages for excessive force and false arrest against the village of Richmond and former Richmond police officer Brian Quilici.
Hallett was 25 years old when the bone around his right eye was shattered during a Feb. 20, 2005, beating in the parking lot of KC’s Cabin near Fox Lake.
Hallett claims that four people, including two off-duty police officers, followed him outside after an argument with Hallett’s co-worker, who drove off before the altercation.
No criminal charges had been filed when Hallett filed the lawsuit about a month after the incident. But the next day, Fox Lake police suggested possible charges against Hallett, which prosecutors did not pursue. Instead, the state police launched an investigation that led to charges against one-time police officers Quilici, Jerome Volstad and Ron Pilati, as well as against Jessica Thelen, who was with the three men.
A federal judge dismissed Fox Lake police from the lawsuit in March 2008, but Hallett’s claims that Fox Lake and Spring Grove police officers tried to cover up the criminal aspects of the beating likely will be brought out at trial, said Russell Ainsworth, one of Hallett’s attorneys.
“The cover-up is proof that something wrong happened, but the legal claim will not go to trial,” Ainsworth said.
The lawsuit claims that Fox Lake and Spring Grove officers gave the three alleged aggressors blank statement forms that they could fill out and deliver at their convenience, refused to take statements from other witnesses or obtain security video from the tavern, and asked Volstad to get rid of Hallett’s bloodied handcuffs.
In the criminal cases, jurors convicted Quilici, who delivered the blow that shattered Hallett’s orbital bone, of five felonies, including aggravated battery and official misconduct. Quilici, now 37, was sentenced to two years in prison in May 2007. He has served that sentence but is appealing his conviction.
Meanwhile, Volstad, 44, and Pilati, 37, accepted a misdemeanor plea bargain last year after a McHenry County judge overturned several felony convictions because prosecutors did not provide defense attorneys with one of Hallett’s police statements. Jurors in the upcoming civil trial might learn of their convictions for attempted unlawful restraint, but a judge barred mention of the earlier criminal charges.
Throughout their criminal case, Volstad and Pilati claimed that Hallett held a knife to Thelen’s throat and pulled out a chunk of her hair.
Early in the criminal cases, though, prosecutors said Hallett had Thelen in a headlock while holding a short knife in his other hand. Thelen told investigators that she thought Hallett was using her as a protective shield and that Hallett was holding the knife far from her, prosecutors said in June 2005.
Thelen, 32, was convicted of a misdemeanor for withholding information from state police and successfully completed a year of non-reporting probation in October.
In the last week or so, Hallett has settled his civil claims against Thelen, Volstad, Pilati, and the village of Spring Grove, Ainsworth said. He declined to release the terms of the settlement agreements.