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Robert Rialmo Legal Defense Fund

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CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER ROBERT RIALMO NEEDS YOUR HELP TO FIGHT THE UNJUST BATTERY CHARGES WRONGFULLY BROUGHT AGAINST HIM. 

Chicago Police Officer Robert Rialmo was attacked while answering a domestic disturbance call in Austin, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago.  When he entered the vestibule to the building Quintonio LeGrier, a young man with a history of mentally illness, came charging at him with a baseball bat raised over his head.  LeGrier swung the bat at Officer Rialmo and in order to save his life Officer Rialmo was forced to fire his weapon, killing Quintonio LeGrier.   Tragically, one of the bullets that hit LeGrier went through him and struck and killed Bettie Jones, who was standing behind LeGrier.   Then, what was a clearly justifiable use of force by Officer Rialmo became a political football.   Unfortunately for Officer Rialmo, the shooting he was involved with was the first officer involved shooting after the release of the Laquan McDonald video.  The Mayor and the City were set on throwing Officer Rialmo under the bus in order to have the appearance that they were “holding officers accountable”, and they were not going to let the facts get in the way of their goal not losing votes.  However, Officer Rialmo fought back.  In order to stop a payoff of the LeGrier  family, like the $5 million in hush money payed in the McDonald case,  he filed a counterclaim against the LeGrier estate.    This made the Mayor upset.   The City told the laywers it hired for Rialmo to get him to drop his counterclaim.  (Why?  Doesn't the Mayor think that people who attack the police should be held accountable? At least they shouldn't be paid for attacking the police; especially when they the attack caused the death of an innocent 3rd party)  So Officer Rialmo  fired the attorneys the city hired for him when he saw that they were not working for his best interest, and got his own lawyer.  This made the City officials ever more upset.

Then on December 17th, Officer Robert Rialmo was in a bar with friends when a couple of drunks tried to take his coat.  When Officer Rialmo pulled his coat back from one of the men who had grabbed it away from him, the drunk pulled his arm back and made a fist to take a swing at Officer Rialmo.   Officer Rialmo, a former Marine, defended himself and pushed the offender away, then the offenders friend grabbed Officer Rialmo, but Officer Rialmo struck the second man one time knocking him out.  Then the first man got to his feet to continue the attack on Officer Rialmo, but Rialmo struck him to prevent him from continuing the attack.  When the police arrived both drunks rejected any medical attention, and neither of them wanted to talk to the police.  Officer Rialmo didn’t want to add to their problems, so he also declined to press charges.   So what happened next?  Three weeks later the City of Chicago, and its agency the “Civilian Office of Police Accountability” (COPA), tried to get the States Attorney to bring felony charges against Officer Rialmo.  When the States Attorney decides there is no case, COPA  brings the drunks down to the courthouse and has them sign misdemeanor complaint of battery and theft (i.e. stealing his own coat!).  So now Officer Robert Rialmo has to defend himself against these false charges which were brought for political reasons to try to tarnish his reputation and get him fired from his job, simply because he wouldn’t lay down and let the city throw him under the bus in the LeGrier shooting case.

Officer Rialmo needs your help to pay for his attorney’s fees and for private investigator fees to beat these false and politically motivated charges against him.  Please contribute to the fund, all of which will go to a zealous defense of this innocent young police officers who the Mayor of the City of Chicago is trying to crush merely because he would not let them sacrifice him on the altar of political correctness, no matter how much the facts said he did nothing wrong. 

This Go Fund Me campaign is being brought for Officer Robert Rialmo by Attorney Joel A. Brodsky, who is Officer Rialmo's lawyer.  All funds donated will be deposited directly into Attorney Brodsky's IOLTA Client Trust Account, and will be paid out at Officer Rialmo's direction,  exclusively for Officer Rialmo's attorney's fees, investigators fees, and related costs. Thank you.

Organizer

Joel A. Brodsky
Organizer
Chicago, IL

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