Cop accused in headbutting case

1/24/2004 10:12:00 AM

Cop accused in headbutting case

Move allegedly sparked by stripper story
Thursday, January 22, 2004
By Jonathan Lipman

Staff writerA Joliet cop was charged with battery Wednesday, accused of headbutting a woman at a Joliet gas station.

The victim said the attack came while the officer was demanding to know what she heard about a rumored sexual encounter between several Joliet policemen and a stripper.

Police Chief Dave Gerdes said the accused officer, Sherman Rieter, has been fired.

Gerdes said the stripper story is not true.

"It was a rumor that got out of control," Gerdes said. "We found nothing to support any inappropriate behavior by any other officer."

Rieter, 29, was charged with misdemeanor battery and assault Wednesday, according to Will County state's attorney spokesman Brian McDaniel.

Joliet police were talking with Rieter's defense attorney Wednesday about scheduling a time for him to turn himself in, Gerdes said. His bail has been set at $3,000.

Rieter attacked Kelli Warfield, 20, of Plainfield last month at a Thornton gas station on Essington Road in Joliet on Dec. 6, according to Gerdes and court records.

Rieter "struck Warfield in the head with his head," the complaint says.

Warfield said she was hanging out at a different gas station on Infantry Drive in Joliet one night in early December when she overheard several Joliet officers talking.

"I heard something about (some) of the other officers down on (Joliet's) East Side with a stripper," Warfield said. "I just overheard they went to a strip club, and maybe it was a bachelor party. I guess they were all sleeping with the same stripper, that's what it sounded like."

Several days later, Rieter came into the Essington Road gas station while she was working the midnight shift.

"He was off duty ... he got out of his car and started yelling and screaming," Warfield said.

Rieter wanted to know about the stripper story, Warfield said.

"He wanted to know where I heard it from," Warfield said. "I didn't understand why he was mad about it because it had nothing to do with him."

A friend working with Warfield called the police, and a Joliet officer arrived to calm Rieter down.

"(Rieter) stopped yelling at me ... and then (the other officer) went to get a cup of coffee, that's when he headbutted me," she said.

Although the 200-pound Rieter was considerably larger than Warfield, she said she was not badly hurt.

The other Joliet officer immediately offered to drive Rieter home, Warfield said. He then returned to ask her if she wished to press charges.

Gerdes said the department immediately started an internal and criminal investigation, which led to the battery charges and the firing of Rieter on Jan. 12.

Rieter had worked for the department for four years.

Warfield said she's been treated well by the Joliet Police Department since the incident and received a personal apology from Gerdes.