Quilici: 'I was trying to protect myself'
By SARAH SUTSCHEK - ssutschek@nwherald.com
ROCKFORD – Brian Quilici said Tuesday that he had no remorse for kicking Ryan Hallett as he tried to subdue him in the parking lot of a Fox Lake bar.
“I shouldn’t have kicked him, but at the time I was trying to protect myself,” Quilici said. “I don’t have any remorse because he tried to kill us.”
The civil trial against Quilici and the village of Richmond, where he was an off-duty police officer at the time of the Feb. 20, 2005, beating at KC’s Cabin, continued Tuesday with Quilici taking the stand. Hallett is seeking unlimited damages for excessive force and false arrest.
Quilici was convicted of five felonies during his criminal trial, including mob action and official misconduct. The case is under appeal.
Two other one-time officers involved in the beating, Jerome Volstad and Ron Pilati, accepted misdemeanor plea bargains last year. In the past few weeks, Hallett has settled civil claims against them, the village of Spring Grove, and Jessica Thelen, who was with them.
The incident stemmed from a verbal confrontation earlier that night between the officers and a co-worker of Hallett’s. Hallett said he stepped in to defuse the situation and later was attacked in the parking lot. Quilici said it was Hallett who started it by kicking one of them.
Quilici said he kicked Hallett in the side to make him drop a small pen knife, but Hallett’s attorneys said he was kicked by Quilici in the face as he lay handcuffed and face-down on the ground. Hallett’s orbital bone was broken, and he required two surgeries.
Hallett’s attorney displayed a poster-sized picture of him bruised and bloodied in the hospital and at his parents’ home where he spent more than a month recovering.
Quilici testified that in his mind, he was acting as a police officer when he took down Hallett, who was looking for a fight.
Hallett said that he was first grabbed by Thelen and he tried to swing her around to get to his truck, but Quilici said he took her hostage and was threatening her.
Quilici said he had only half a drink that night between stops at two bars because he had a sinus infection. He admitted that Thelen had met the group at the bar and that he bought her a drink, although he previously had said in a taped deposition that he did not see her at the bar.
He also denied telling Thelen not to talk to police.
Hallett’s attorney, Russell Ainsworth, repeatedly questioned Quilici as to why he didn’t give an officer who responded to the scene Thelen’s full name, instead referring to her as a white female although they had known each other for years.
Quilici denied telling Thelen to leave and said that the entire initial investigation by a Fox Lake police officer was mishandled after she failed to secure the scene or ask enough questions.
“I was a victim here,” he said. “I’ve never seen police work like that. It was amateur hour.”
The bartender working that night also took the stand, testifying that through the window she saw Hallett being followed by the three men to his truck and that she saw Quilici kicking him.
She said that she felt sick to her stomach after she saw how injured he was and had to look away.
