Politics & Government
Heights Official Convicted of Misdemeanor Battery
Ald. Richard Amadio now awaits August sentencing after he was found guilty of breaking a District 170 board member's thumb during a workplace dispute.
Chicago Heights Ald. Richard J. Amadio (5th Ward) was convicted of misdemeanor battery on Monday for breaking a coworker's thumb during a February workplace dispute, according to Sun-Times Media reports.
Read: Alderman Amadio Accused of Breaking Co-worker's Thumb
The 55-year-old Heights official reportedly skirmished with coworker and SD170 board member William Nelson at the District 170 maintenance building where both men work. Nelson, who was occupied with pouring hydraulic fluid into one of the plows, did not immediately comply with one of Amadio's orders, according to police. An enraged Amadio then grabbed the can of fluid from Nelson's hand and fractured his thumb as they grappled for it.
"I don't know why it had to come to this," Judge Thomas Carroll said in a Sun-Times Media report. "This case is really sad. I just don’t get it.”
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Amadio has an Aug. 1 sentencing date. He reportedly has no intention to resign from public office.
Sun-Time Media reports Nelson intends to file a lawsuit against Amadio.
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