Brandon Kelly Is Not A Criminal: 2 Resisting Arrest Charges Dropped
JOLIET —Two weeks from today will mark the ominous one-year anniversary of Brandon Kelly’s violent confrontation with several officers at the Joliet Police Department. Kelly was instructing his early morning exercise class on Essington Road when Joliet police arrived to investigate very loud music being played inside Kelly’s Undisputed Gym.
Kelly came outside and began swearing at the officers, ordering them to get off his property and stop harassing his business. The pre-sunrise incident turned violent when the officers followed Kelly inside his gym after he told them not to.
A scuffle broke out and Joliet police officers used a Taser to subdue Kelly, who was arrested right in front of about a dozen people who were attending his fitness class. The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office filed two counts of resisting a peace officer against Kelly.
Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The complaint indicated that on Sept. 27, 202, Kelly knowingly resisted the performance of Officer Allen Pina “being the arrest of defendant … in that said defendant pushed Allen Pina.” The second charge indicates that Kelly knowingly resisted the performance of Nicholas Szalinski “being the arrest of the defendant … in that said defendant pulled away from Nicholas Szalinski.”
This month, Will County Judge Sherri Hale signed off on the court documents to bring Kelly’s criminal case to an end at the Will County Courthouse.
Click Here: SL Benfica soccer tracksuit
Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
When the case came before Judge Hale on the matter of a trial, Will County prosecutors made a motion to drop their pending criminal complaint against Kelly. The judge granted the prosecution’s motion and ordered that the complaint be dismissed.
“The file is ordered closed,” Judge Hale declared.
Kelly was represented by one of Will County’s most prolific criminal defense lawyers, Chuck Bretz. Bretz said he presented the prosecution with several examples of Illinois case law showing why the resisting arrest charges against Kelly were improper.
Bretz told Joliet Patch he was very pleased that the Will County prosecutors came to the realization that Kelly’s charges were improper to go to a jury trial.
The body camera video of Kelly being tasered by Joliet police can be seen in its entirety at the bottom of this Joliet Patch article. In the video, Kelly can be seen coming out of Undisputed Strength as he begins swearing and shouting at the Joliet police to get off his property. They were interrupting his fitness class he was teaching, Kelly tells them in the video.
Related Joliet Patch coverage:
Owner of Undisputed Gym Tased By Joliet Police, 2 Charges Filed
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.