Cop's Shove Injures Ex-Wife At Lynwood Bar, Video Shows

LYNWOOD, IL — Video that surfaced recently shows a Chicago Heights police officer shove a bar patron at an establishment in Lynwood and appear to strike him multiple times in an altercation last September. The physical attack began with a shove that resulted in injuries sustained by the cop's ex-wife, according to an attorney's letter indicating possible intentions to sue the officer and the Chicago Heights Police Department.

Police responded to Lencioni's Pub, located at 3325 Glenwood Dyer Road in Lynwood at 2:02 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2017 and found a security guard escorting Keith Applequist, a lieutenant with the Chicago Heights Police Department, out of the bar. Police who arrived were told by the security guard that Applequist battered a man inside minutes earlier.

A police report indicates a man who was with the ex-wife of Applequist at the bar that night is the one who became involved in the altercation with the lieutenant. Surveillance video of the incident that surfaced long after the initial police report shows Applequist push a woman out of the way to shove the man, an act that resulted in the man falling into Applequist's ex-wife while she was sitting on the bar stool next to him. As a result, the ex-wife then fell backwards and hit her head on the bar, the video shows.

The male victim opted against pressing charges against Applequist that night, but returned to the police station the following day to do so. At that time, the man complained of injuries to his right knee, right elbow, neck and back.

A Lynwood police follow-up report indicates the victim was informed of an option to file an order of protection against Applequist instead.

Both Applequist and the man he is alleged to have battered told police that both of them, and Applequist's ex-wife, were getting along and buying each other drinks throughout the night. But the man Applequist is shown on video shoving told police that changed when Applequist's offer to buy his ex-wife shots was declined.

"Keith started calling her a derogatory name," according to the report, which followed by stating the male victim tried to get Applequist to stop, but Applequist shoved him "and might have punched him."

The Chicago Heights police lieutenant was suspended for 20 days last October, the Daily Southtown has reported. Disciplinary records showed that Applequist waived all his appeal rights while accepting the 20-day suspension, which presumably came as a result of the incident in Lynwood.

But since then, a memorandum from Chicago Heights Deputy Police Chief Andrew Robustelli addressed to Applequist indicates that in December he was put on paid administrative leave based on accusations that he was consuming alcohol at a bar in Dyer, Indiana while on-duty.

"I am advising you in writing that an internal investigation will be conducted in reference to this incident," Robustelli wrote in the recently discovered departmental memorandum. "While this investigation is being conducted you are being placed on Administrative Leave with Pay."

"While on administrative leave, let me remind you, that you do not have any police powers. If you need to come to the Chicago Heights Police Department for any reason you are to contact me via telephone first to set up an appointment."

Chicago Heights police officials did not respond to requests for an update on Applequist's status with the department. An unnamed police source says he's currently on unpaid leave as a result of the investigation into the alleged on-duty drinking incident.

For years, Applequist was employed as a security guard at Bloom Township High School, but according to someone at Bloom Township High School District 206 he was taken off the district payroll in January. He's listed as a member of the district's staff here.

While it does not appear that Applequist has faced any criminal charges in connection with the bar fight in Lynwood, a letter submitted to Thomas Somer, the attorney for the city of Chicago Heights, indicates a suburban law firm's possible intention to file a lawsuit against the lieutenant and the police department on behalf of both the male victim of the incident and Applequist's ex-wife.

The letter indicates both suffered "severe injuries."

"The force of the unanticipated attack prevented (the female victim) from bracing herself, which explains the severity and likely permanency of her head injuries," it continues.

She "suffers chronic and severe headaches, neck pain, upper back and shoulder pain along with severe bruising to her right leg.

The man, it states, now "has chronic back pain, neck injures and extensive knee injuries."

The letter was declared as "communication involving an attempt to compromise claims," and no record of an actual lawsuit has been found.

Watch the video shown below from Lencioni's Pub. Be advised it contains content some might find objectionable.

Image via YouTube screenshot