Part-time Bellwood cop guilty in pepper-spray abuse

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A part-time Bellwood police officer was convicted Friday of official misconduct for firing pepper spray in the face of a 16-year-old boy after the teenager muttered a curse word in a police interview room, prosecutors said.

Michael Fisher, 63, faces up to five years in prison. He was convicted after a bench trial before Cook County Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan.

On Oct. 19, 2007, the boy was arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Fisher walked into an interview room where the boy was being held and told him to take his hands out of his pockets, prosecutors said.

The teenager muttered an expletive, and Fisher left the room, returning with pepper spray, prosecutors said. He sprayed the boy twice in the face.

When the teen complained to Fisher’s supervisors, Fisher told them the boy tried to spit on him.

Fisher was unaware of the video cameras in the room, which showed his story was false, prosecutors said.

Fisher later admitted the teen was under control while in the interview room, prosecutors said.

Fisher was supposed to be in court on Feb. 9 on the case but he did not appear, so a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Later that month, he went to the Berwyn Police Department to pick up his girlfriend’s impounded car and was arrested when Berwyn police checked his identification and saw he was wanted on a warrant, prosecutors said.

The teenager was convicted on a misdemeanor drug charge and received six months’ supervision, records show.