Bouncer: Ex-cop kicked Hallett
By SARAH SUTSCHEK - ssutschek@nwherald.com
ROCKFORD – The bouncer working at a Fox Lake bar where three former officers beat a man said one of them asked for a rag to clean off bloody handcuffs.
Greg Fisher testified that he saw former Richmond police officer Brian Quilici kick Ryan Hallett in the side and face outside KC’s Cabin in February 2005.
“I threw my body in between them, and he kicked me instead,” Fisher said.
The civil trial for Quilici and the village of Richmond continued Wednesday. 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.
Fisher also testified that he saw one of the men sitting on Hallett’s back while Thelen kicked from behind, although he admitted first
telling investigators that he wasn’t outside during the incident.
He said that Quilici had told him to go back inside the bar and that he wouldn’t be involved.
Pilati also took the stand Wednesday, saying Hallett started the fight by kicking him in the groin, but that he didn’t know how Hallett suffered facial injuries during the ensuing struggle.
“He never said, ‘My eye feels like it’s falling out of its socket?’ “ said Hallett’s attorney, Russell Ainsworth.
Pictures of Hallett’s bruised and bloodied face were shown to the jury, and Ainsworth said Hallett’s orbital bone had been shattered by a kick from Quilici.
Pilati said it was possible that Hallett’s injuries could have been from when he was taken down to the ground by the officers after he repeatedly resisted and slashed at them with a pen knife.
Pilati said that he never looked at Hallett’s face while walking him handcuffed back inside the bar, and that he was more worried about himself.
“I had a bag of ice on my groin, standing in the corner,” Pilati said.
Pilati backed up Quilici’s account of what happened that night, saying that Hallett took Thelen hostage with the knife.
Hallett, however, testified earlier that he had just wanted to leave and was swinging Thelen out of the way so he could get in his truck.
Like Quilici earlier in the trial, Pilati said the police investigation was inadequate. He also accused a former member of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office of telling him to make false statements about Quilici kicking Hallett.
He said Illinois State Police investigators told him that there was a tape showing the incident, although there was not.
“They’re liars, bottom line,” he said.
Pilati did admit, however, that Quilici once said to him that he had “lost his cool” and “let’s stick to our stories and everything will be cool.”
