Video Of Burr Ridge Deputy Chief's Arrest Won't Be Released: Village

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge has declined to release a video of its deputy police chief during his drunken driving arrest in Virginia.

At the time, Deputy Chief Ryan Husarik was behind the wheel of a police car in the Washington suburbs, where he was attending training at the FBI Academy.

Records show that Burr Ridge received a video of Husarik's April 13 arrest by Virginia state police. That was part of the police department's internal investigation.

Patch filed a records request for the video. In withholding the footage, the village cited an exemption under the state's open records law for documents relating to a public body's adjudication of an employee's discipline.

Patch also submitted a request to Virginia state police, which decided to keep the video secret.

In its request to Burr Ridge, Patch sought any correspondence from the mayor or the administration to the village's trustees about the arrest. The village said it had no such records, indicating trustees were told about the case verbally.

However, Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso did answer Patch's question about how the police car got back to Illinois. In an email, Grasso said the village's other deputy police chief, Marc Loftus, was sent to Virginia to drive it back.

The village had already said Husarik was ordered back to Illinois after the arrest.

As punishment, Husarik, who makes $150,000 a year, was given 40 days of unpaid leave, lasting until July 26.