An off-duty Chicago Department of Aviation security officer told investigators at the scene of a shooting in Buffalo Grove last June that he may have accidentally fired his gun when he was struck by a car whose occupants he thought had shot at him, according to police reports.
On Tuesday, a lawsuit filed on behalf of the 18-year-old who was shot in the stomach during the altercation alleges the off-duty aviation officer, Jordan Wisniewski, recklessly opened fire without cause after a mile-long chase.
“In our evaluation of the evidence, he immediately decided he was going to be the judge, the jury and the executioner for what had been done to him,” said Michael Salvi, an attorney for Tomas Blasberg. “Clearly this off-duty police officer did not have the right to hunt these guys down with a real gun.”
Blasberg and his friend had BB guns — including a rifle on the passenger side — in their car, but both denied shooting them. However, investigators found a “small dimple” on the driver’s-side rear door of Wisniewski’s car, reports show.
“I was not going to let them get away,” Wisniewski told Buffalo Grove police investigators, according to a report. “They shot at me.”
Salvi said Wisniewski acted recklessly in chasing down a suspect for what would’ve been — if his vehicle was hit with a BB — a misdemeanor criminal damage to property case. He said his client, a former placekicker on the Deerfield High School football team, is now studying business at West Virginia University.
City spokesman Bill McCaffrey said he could not comment on Blasberg’s pending lawsuit but that the city plans “to vigorously defend against this suit.”
Wisniewski and his wife were driving east in their Nissan Rogue as Blasberg, then 18, drove west in a Honda Civic with a friend to Long Grove, where they planned to shoot their air rifles at a friend’s home, according to Blasberg’s lawsuit.
The off-duty officer later said he saw a rifle barrel emerge from the Honda and then heard a loud boom and a sound like a brick hitting his vehicle, according to police reports. He initially said he saw a muzzle flash — a sign an actual firearm had been shot — but in a later interview told an investigator he had not seen such a flash, the reports show.
Near Busch Parkway, Wisniewski made a U-turn and began pursuing Blasberg’s Honda, according to the lawsuit. The off-duty officer caught up to it, cut it off and slammed on the brakes, then got out with his Glock 19 in hand, according to the lawsuit.
Blasberg told investigators that he tried to drive around Wisniewski, who stepped forward and opened fire on him. The bullet tore through the windshield and struck Blasberg’s right side. The wounded teen then drove to a nearby gas station at Arlington Heights and McHenry roads and went inside for help.
A woman who saw the incident told police that Wisniewski emerged from his SUV with a gun in his hands and then she heard a gunshot, a report says.
According to police reports, Wisniewski said he emerged from the SUV with his Glock 19 in one hand and his police badge in the other and then yelled, “Police, police stop!”
The off-duty officer said he was in fear for his life after the Honda backed up and then drove toward him. Wisniewski told a police officer at the scene that he was struck by the Honda and knocked up and over the hood and “accidentally shot his gun” one time. He told investigators in a later interview that he thought his gun may have gone off when he was hit by the Honda, but he was unsure, according to the reports.
Wisniewski suffered a bruised knee. Like Blasberg, he was treated at the hospital and released.
Lake County prosecutors declined to press any charges in the case.
Wisniewski remains on the city’s payroll, earning about $55,000 a year as a security officer, according to a city spokeswoman and records.
The June 8 shooting came just months after other Department of Aviation security officers made headlines worldwide when a passenger took cellphone video of them dragging a United Airlines passenger off an overbooked plane. Those officers were later fired.
In July, the Aviation Department determined that the Chicago Police Department would be the lead responder on disturbance calls at the airport, not the unarmed aviation security officers.
The city also directed that the word “police” be removed from the uniforms and vehicles of aviation security officers. The 290-person security team is supposed to monitor access to restricted and secure areas of the airport, handle traffic control and support Chicago police and the Fire Department, according to aviation officials.
Twitter @SteveSchmadeke
RELATED
