Four suburban men who were accused of attacking restaurant workers and an off-duty Chicago police officer outside of a Mount Greenwood restaurant were found not guilty by a judge on Wednesday.
Judge Ursula Walowski delivered her ruling before a packed fifth-floor courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, where the audience included Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th, and several members of Fraternal Order of Police, which represents Chicago’s rank-and-file officers.
Walowski spent much of her ruling focused on a few minutes of video footage capturing an altercation outside Barraco’s Ristorante between four suburban men who were asked to leave the bar after drinking there while underage, management and workers and an off-duty Chicago Police officer.
“You can’t see how Mr. Barraco was punched,” she said. “I see punches and swings and shoves going on. I was not able to see one person that was not being physical in some way.”
While a punch allegedly thrown by defendant Frank Paris did lead to Nicholas Barraco, then the owner and manager of the bar, falling and being seriously injured, it wasn’t clear to Walowski precisely who the defendant was aiming at.
“I’m not here to decide whether she should have done that,” she said. “I’m here to decide whether to hold them criminally responsible.”
Prosecutors also accused Paris, a River Forest resident who was 20 at the time, of taking a hat off an off-duty Chicago police officer, Kevin Hartwig. While Walowski deemed the move “a very stupid act… that obviously incited matters,” she took a dim view of prosecutors’ argument that such an action met the legal definition of felony robbery.
Paris, along with Andrew Fedyk of La Grange Park, Frank Paris of River Forest, Harry Kenny of Glen Ellyn and John Powers IV of Oak Park were charged with multiple felony counts of aggravated battery.
While Walowski deemed some of Paris’ testimony “self-serving,” she said she found much of it credible.
She remarked that it was not clear what had happened inside the restaurant June 22, where the men had been hanging out and drinking when they became angry upon being asked to leave by management, prosecutors alleged.
Barraco, then the owner and manager of the pizza place, testified last month during a one-day trial that he was seriously injured in the ensuing brawl outside of the establishment, a popular police hangout in the 3000 block of West 111th Street.
“They were swearing,” Barraco said. “They didn’t want to leave.”
The attack at the Far Southwest Side restaurant ignited outrage in the neighborhood, where community members held a vigil for Barraco, who suffered a brain bleed.
Defense attorneys for the men, though, argued that the restaurant workers and the off-duty officer escalated the situation and contributed to the fight.
Prosecutors showed video of the confrontation that was captured on business surveillance cameras and cellphone footage shot by a passerby.
Ricky Velarde, a 46-year-old manager at Barraco’s, told the judge that as he tried to kick out the group, he got pulled out onto the sidewalk. They taunted him and others, he said, yelling, “Come on, big boy.”
Velarde said they took a hat from off-duty Chicago police officer Kevin Hartwig, then jumped Velarde when he tried to retrieve it for him.
“I saw stars,” Velarde said. “I fell to the ground.”
But Paris took the stand during the trial and told a different story.
He testified that he felt threatened by Kevin Hartwig, the off-duty officer, and the restaurant employees. He said Hartwig shoved him, called the men “North Side punks” and told them to “get out of my neighborhood.”
Paris suffered a concussion in the fight, he testified. Surrounded by supporters outside the courtroom Wednesday, he gave one of his defense attorneys a firm handshake.
Paris’ defense attorney Donna Rutunno said Walowski had done the right thing and remarked that the case belonged in civil court rather than criminal proceedings.
“All those kids made a mistake that night,” she said.
She said she was certain her client would view any future situations differently as a result of the legal battle, whose outcome could have clouded the rest of his life.
Powers’ attorney Damon Cheronis said in a statement that the case was “overcharged” and that Walowski had based her ruling on the evidence.
