SHEBOYGAN, Wis.-Two Sheboygan police officers were found innocent of excessive force on a man who robbed Sheboygan Area CU at gunpoint in January 2004 and who was captured after a high-speed chase.
Two supervisors were also acquitted of denying medical care to the suspect after he was injured in the ensuing scuffle.
The robber, Bruce Valind, claimed in the lawsuit his elbow was injured as Officers Mark Viglietti and Brian Retzer wrestled with him after the chase. He said now-retired police Capt. James Tetzlaff and jail supervisor Paul Brinkman then refused to allow him to seek medical care.
Valind, 51, of Green Bay, was convicted in the case of felony armed robbery and fleeing an officer and sentenced in March 2004 to 11 years in prison.
Valind was wearing a green ski mask and wielding what later proved to be a toy gun when he entered the credit union. He jumped the counter and stuffed $9,000 cash into a paper bag.
At the time of the heist, Valind was on parole from a prior armed robbery and was a suspect in numerous others. His attorney said he never intended to harm anyone and was "overwhelmed by financial desperation" after losing his factory job in Green Bay.
After the robbery, Valind led police on a chase reaching speeds up to 100 mph as he got on Interstate 43. Valind's car was stopped near state Highway 42 when police used stop sticks to flatten his tires. Valind claimed in the lawsuit that he jumped from the car with his hands partially raised and was tackled to the ground, causing the elbow injury.
Valind claimed the injury came when officers tried to twist his arm from underneath him, but lawyers for the police said several doctors testified that couldn't cause the bone chip later found in his elbow.
Valind had no visible injuries at the time and was screened by medical staff at the jail, so jail supervisor Brinkman refused his request to be checked out at a hospital. Valind was allowed to go two days later, at which time an X-ray revealed only pre-existing arthritis and the bone chip.
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