Criminal law, Torts

Grosskreutz v. Grosskreutz? Survivor from 2020 Kenosha Shooting Sues Kyle Rittenhouse
YouTube screengrab

Just when you thought that the Kyle Rittenhouse case was over . . . it is back. Gaige Grosskreutz who was shot in the arm by Kyle Rittenhouse during the Kenosha riots in 2020 is now suing him as well as Wisconsin police and officials. Grosskreutz effectively repeats his earlier rejected claims that he was merely trying to protect others and had his hands up when Rittenhouse shot him. The difference is that this civil lawsuit will be resolved under the lower standard of proof by a preponderance of the evidence (rather than beyond a reasonable doubt). Nevertheless, the case could prove messy for Grosskreutz whose criminal background and actions that night could undermine his claims. Indeed, the most damaging witness against Grosskreutz may prove to be himself.

The lawsuit names as defendants Rittenhouse, the city of Kenosha, Kenosha County, five other neighboring counties, police officers, former Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth and former Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis. Grosskreutz alleges assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Rittenhouse was also added to Grosskreutz’s civil rights and Equal Protection claims against the city and local officials.

In the trial, Grosskreutz admitted that he pointed a firearm at Rittenhouse before the then-teenager shot Grosskreutz and two others. He testified that he carried a loaded gun that night and, during cross-examination, defense attorney Corey Chirafisi asked Grosskreutz, “It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him … that he fired, right?” Grosskreutz responded, “Correct.”

Grosskreutz also admitted that he refused initially to answer questions from the police and refused to give police permission to look through his phone. He also did not tell police that he was armed that night or pointed a gun at Rittenhouse. As shown in the testimony below, Grosskreutz admits that Rittenhouse did not shoot while Grosskreutz had his hands up. He fired when Grosskreutz pointed his Glock at Rittenhouse.

Grosskreutz also admitted that Rittenhouse told him that he was going to the police and was running in their direction. He also admitted that he lied to police when he said that he tried to tell a man with a skateboard to stop hitting Rittenhouse before he was shot. The false statement to police portrayed Rittenhouse as shooting him after he tried to help him.

The complaint repeatedly brushes over that earlier testimony and reframes the facts as if Grooskreutz was shot virtually randomly:

“Plaintiff Gaige Grosskreutz watched all of this happen.

He approached with his hands in the air to try to ease the situation and stop the killing. 27. Defendant Rittenhouse instead shot Mr. Grosskreutz in the bicep, leaving a gaping wound.

Thankfully, Mr. Grosskreutz did not die that day.

…

Plaintiff Gaige Grosskreutz approached Defendant Rittenhouse with his hands up, pleading with him to stop his shooting rampage. Without provocation or any legal justification, Defendant Rittenhouse shot at Grosskreutz from point-blank range, hitting him in the arm. Thankfully, Grosskreutz survived.”  But he must live with the physical and emotional wounds inflicted by Defendant Rittenhouse and the Defendants who deputized and enabled him. The conduct of the Defendants in this case directly caused Gaige Grosskreutz’s injury.”

Grosskreutz also admitted that it was him on his cellphone footage who angrily yelled at Rittenhouse to go home as Rittenhouse tried to give masks to protesters. He admitted that did not see any violent acts or threats from Rittenhouse before the shooting.

Grosskreutz also admitted his CCW permit was invalid and that he was therefore illegally carrying a concealed weapon on the night, though he insisted that he did not know it was invalid.

Grosskreutz was also questioned on the stand about his seeking $10 million in a lawsuit against the city and another lawsuit in federal court for damages. He admitted that he did not mention in the two filings that he was armed at the time. He also admitted in trial that a conviction of Rittenhouse would help him secure the $10 million.

It is not clear how he will get around that admissible earlier testimony. Instead, the complaint seems more of a diatribe against the police who it alleges “deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit.” The problem is that these individuals had a right to carry guns. Indeed, Grosshreutz also came to the protest armed.

The complaint also alleges that Rittenhouse was linked to right-wing white nationalist and militia groups, noting that a member of the so-called Boogaloo Bois was seen “patrolling the streets” with Rittenhouse that night, and that he later met with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. It also states that “in the months after he killed two people and maimed Mr. Grosskreutz, Defendant Rittenhouse was seen in a bar in his hometown flashing an ‘OK’ sign, a symbol of white supremacy/white power.” Such evidence would be challenged by the defense as prejudicial and inadmissible at trial.

There is also likely to be fight over the admission of Grosskreutz’s criminal history, which was not fully admitted at the criminal trial. That criminal history extended a full decade before the Kenosha shooting and involved violence against his girlfriend. Indeed, just days before the shooting, Grosskreutz was arrested for allegedly “prowling” when he was videotaping police vehicles in a police department parking lot around 1 a.m.

In May 2015, Grosskreutz was stopped by police near Kenosha with allegedly “bloodshot and glassy” eyes and found to have a 9mm Glock 19 handgun in his vehicle.

In 2013, he was charged with smashing the bedroom window of former girlfriend’s home at 4 a.m.. The girlfriend alleged that he had been harassing her.

In 2012, Grosskreutz was charged with a felony burglary charge in New Berlin when he was caught trying to sell three stolen PlayStation consoles.

In 2010, Grosskreutz was arrested and charged with hitting his grandmother in the face during a dispute. During the attack, he also allegedly threw a lamp and damaged a wall. He was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal damage.

He also reportedly had various sealed juvenile arrests.

The lower standard of proof will obviously work to the advantage of Grosskreutz, but it will be hard to get around his prior testimony or the image of him pointing the Glock at Rittenhouse before the teenager fired, wounding him in the arm.

Rittenhouse is also facing a lawsuit by one of the men shot on that night. A federal judge ruled that the lawsuit by the family of Anthony Huber could go to trial. Huber, 26, struck Rittenhouse with his skateboard before Rittenhouse shot and killed him.

Here is the complaint: Grosskreutz v. Rittenhouse

Here is Grosskreutz’s earlier testimony:

 

 

118 thoughts on “Grosskreutz v. Grosskreutz? Survivor from 2020 Kenosha Shooting Sues Kyle Rittenhouse”

  1. If the USA had a Justice Department, Grosskreutz would have been charged and tried for Attempted Murder.

  2. Jonathan Turley says the case has no chance, but that assumes you have judges who will follow the Constitution and the Law. I’m saying the courts are so corrupted with democrat judges that you can no longer assume they will follow the Constitution and the Law. The more election fraud we have (as seen in 2020 and 2022), the more corrupt democrat judges populating the bench either through election or appointment. WITHOUT HONEST ELECTIONS WE CAN’T FIX ANYTHING.

    1. In case you’ve never noticed, Turley is a leftist idiot. I don’t know why he is constantly promoted on this site except that he’s developed a small draining cyst of sanity on his left buttock and the right just loves pretending that leftists can be magically converted to sanity (a la Bill Maher). But Turley never really gets to the point, just like this article demonstrates. In a sane world the lawsuit would be dismissed with prejudice and SUBSTANTIAL financial sanctions would be assessed against Grosskreutz and his attorney. Instead, Rittenhouse will have to pay for his own defense and suffer the anguish of not knowing which leftist judge might preside over this “case”. Remember, Rittenhouse was TRIED FOR MURDER despite multiple videos of people (Grosskreutz included) trying to KILL him. The judge sat through the entire charade as if there was a real case to present to the jury.

  3. Kyle took out the feds paid goons and now this one wants to sue Kyle. Lol. Sue the feds, Soros, and the rest of them who orchestrated the riots across America. Traitors need to be put death!

    1. Why was this goon not prosecuted as a felon carrying a gun? That used to mean you finish out what remained of your original sentence plus 8 additional years.

  5. The jury has spoken. Not guilty. Plus, he didn’t “bring an illegal gun across state lies” as the press has portrayed, lied about ever since. Those two attacked him during this riot, and he defended himself. He feared for his life.

      1. No, this is the commies harassing him to show others what’s in store for you if you fight back.

  6. IIRC Grosskreutz was a convicted felon and thereforr should not have been carrying a firearm

  7. It seems somewhat appropriate that Grosskreutz is in part represented by Motley Legal Services.

    6. Motley: the parti-colored garment of a jester.

  8. One is left to imagine the estate of Captain Edward J. Smith bringing a wrongful death action against the ‘White Star’ line and “International Mercantile Marine’ because one pair of binoculars were left behind in Southampton and the pair on board were assigned to the bridge and not the lookouts.

  9. Does Crossgruiskie’s (scv?) lawyer face any professional sanction/exposure due to ??????? nature of this suit?

  10. And think: none of this would have happened if that little fat boy trying to prove he’s a man had just stayed home.

      1. And…he didn’t even live in that state. This was just an obese, unattractive little dweeb trying to show off with his symbolic phallic gun. People died because of this little turd. He belongs in jail.

        1. The video tells the story. He was attacked by a mob and on his back on the ground when Grosskreutz advanced on him, pointing a loaded gun at his head from one to two feet away. You would have fired in the same situation.

          As for why he was there, he was protecting innocent people’s property against a rioting mob of terrorists. (Apparently you approve of their actions because they were left-wing terrorists; if they had been right-wing terrorists, you’d be taking Rittenhouse’s side.) Rittenhouse’s attractiveness or whether he was a “dweeb” have nothing to do with anything. Your using such terms just shows your bias. It signals to everyone else that you are not analyzing the situation according to the reality of what happened, but according to your prejudices.

        3. Gigi,

          Why do you every time support the positions of the Anti-American Satan worshiping Pedophiles & Pedophile supporters?

          Tell us Why?

          1. Sounds a lot like another Gigi… Pedophile supporter and “Groomer in chief” of Stevens Point School district, Gigi Stahl. She is a piece of work.

        4. The kid is a hero. Both people killed were criminals and grosskreutz is psychopath. Its unfortunate that hero kyle didnt shoot straighter

        5. @Gigi,
          Clearly you don’t live in IL otherwise you’d know that Kyle lived closer to Kenosha than he did to Chicago.
          Antioch, IL, is right on the border. Heck I used to drive thru Antioch, stop at the WalMart to pick up ammo on my way to Bristol.
          (There’s a public range that also holds CMP shoots)

          So for him to be in Kenosha… that’s like driving over to the next suburb down the road.

          Want to blame someone. Blame the guy who attacked him and set all of this in motion.

          To your point. yeah, Kyle shouldn’t have been there. He was too young. And he shouldnt have had a rifle. But that’s a different argument and discussion points.

          This guy’s civil lawsuit will go down in flames.

          -G

        7. He was protecting property from destructive, paid thugs and defending his life when that became necessary.. Nothing wrong with that. He showed amazing restraint when surrounded by said thugs trying to kill him.

    2. So says NUTCHACHACHA, using other people’s money and status to prove she’s a “man” or otherwise “reasonable” facsimile.

      Nutty, may we dispose of unconstitutional welfare, affirmative action, quotas, etc., oh, and let me guess, unconstitutional “student loans,” yet or do you still need it all to prove your “manhood” and persist in life?

      1. By “home,” do you mean Angola, Congo, Nigeria, etc.?

        Send a thank you note to “Crazy Abe” Lincoln.

    4. Yes, we should all stay home, cower, and wit unarmed for the rioters, looters and arsonist destroy our property before coming to kill us.

      Kyle Rittenhouse came to a riot at the request of the owner of a car dealership to protect his property in the midst of a riot.

      Mr. Grosskreutz who is a convicted fellon, came to a riot for the purpose of rioting.

      And that is who you chose to defend ?

      The civil case against Rittenhouse should be dismissed, Grosskreutz should have to pay damages. Rittenhouse should sue Grosskreutz.
      And Grosskreutz’s lawyers should be sanctioned.

    5. Should he not have performed his job (in Ohio) – as a lifeguard – that day? Should he not have volunteered to help the local school scrub BLMantifa grafitti from its walls? Should he not have gone to assist a terrified shopowner, one of whose stores had been torched the night before? He wasn’t trying to PROVE he’s a man, he was trying to BE a man – volunteering such strength and ability as he possessed to the service of others’ needs. Remember he was also rendering such medical assistance to the injured – including protesters – as he could.

      You are vindictively stupid, as proudly as you are profoundly bigoted – and full of loathing for all that’s wholesome in human beings.

    6. Really? The entire riot, burning down car dealerships and historic businesses, all caused by Rittenhouse’s presence? Unreal. What would have probably happened is the plaintiffs and others would have tried to kill someone else or several other people.

    8. Wrong. None of this would have happened had you and your goons not rioted and attacked innocent people.

  11. Rittenhouse was just being used as an offset to the BLM violence by the MSM. See they are violent on their side too. The false equivalency of the Boogaloo Boys and QAnon concerning violence in comparison to the violence committed by Black Lives Matter was the goal of the press. Rittenhouse was just a means to an end to portray Republicans as right wing extremists. Right wing extremist or Putin puppets. Their still doing the same thing today and the lap dogs are still lapping it up. What’s the worst thing that could happen to Grosskreitz? A book that ends up on the top ten sellers list in The New York Times?

    2. Instead of a NYT bestseller, how about a movie on Netflix entitled “Great Cross – How a Young American Idealist Barely Escaped Death at the Hands of a MAGA Extremist.”

    3. Rittenhouse engaged in self defense – not rioting., looting and arson.

      The Bugaloo boys are as likely to be on the far left as the right.

      What Qanon violence ?

  12. My opinion of American “justice” was formed at an early age. My mother was struck and killed by a driver who failed to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. The driver then sued my mother’s estate, presumably for the emotional pain of my mother’s body crashing through her windshield. It took a counter-suit, and 8 years, for my father to win a ridiculously small amount–$360, to be exact. My father was never the same. The process is the punishment in many of these cases, and it would not surprise me in the slightest if the miserable, Leftist, criminal plaintiff prevailed.

    1. Andrew – the criminal plaintiff may be trying to extract a settlement. It won’t work, and Rittenhouse has lots of public support now (even though he has his detractors on the Left). I think the process for him will be temporarily painful, but given his youth he’ll be able to withstand it and come away with his reputation that much stronger among the law-abiding in this country.

      What would prevent many suits like the one your father unfortunately had to endure, is if we adopted the rule used for civil trials everywhere but America: the losing side pays the winning side’s legal fees.

      1. I do not support a general rule requiring the losing side to pay.

        But I absolutely support allowing the winning side to seek legal fees, and sanctions.
        With the court determining whether in this case that has merit.

    2. I am sorry for your experience.
      I have repeatedly seen the same – though not so egregious.
      Even in mundane cases – the courts often – possibly usually get it wrong.

      I have been on the winning side of legitimate cases – where we still would have been better off losing years earlier.

      My father spent the last 6 productive years of his carreer recoving fees for work from a client who refused to pay.
      Ultimately my father won. But was not compensated for the time wasted in recovering those fees.

    3. 100% correct: the process is the punishment. The people behind Grosskreuz just want to make Rittenhouse spend time and money.

      1. Which is why they should be sanctioned.

        Rittenhouse won a criminal case by establishing self defense.
        Civil courts must take judicial notice of that, and unless the plantiff can make a compelling claim in his pleadings that there was no self defense, the case should not be tried, and the lawyers should be sanctioned.

        Conversely Rittenhouse should be counter suing for defamation as well as other actual harms

  13. Gaige Grosskreutz awakened a “sleeping giant.”

    Whatever will happen if a nation of “sleeping giants” is awakened…

    and it discovers leaders the caliber of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton et al.?

    Oh, happy day!
    ____________

    “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

    – Declaration of Independence, 1776

  14. He’s not a “survivor.” He’s a violent Communist terrorist, who attacked Kyle. The only survivor is KYLE…. The others were “attackers”…..

    1. Tom – that seems to be accurate. The video above showing Grosskreutz’s testimony, contains within it a video of the actual incident which defense counsel walks through second-by-second, having Grosskreutz describe what is happening. Counsel gets Grosskreutz to admit that Rittenhouse never fired at him, until he (Grosskreutz) was around one or two feet away, advancing on Rittenhouse and pointing a loaded gun at him. It was only then that Rittenhouse fires. Even under a preponderance standard it’s going to be next to impossible for Grosskreutz to prove a different narrative to a civil jury.

      1. Given the chaos and noise going on around him (it had to be loud), Rittenhouse showed great restraint while under pressure. He was never the aggressor and even didn’t shoot until the actual aggressor’s gun was raised and pointed at him. I thought that showed great control for a 17 year old. He could actually give training to others as to how to handle such a volatile situation based on the video alone.

        Those whose knee-jerk reaction in reviewing videos of such situations in which they always go against what they perceive as the “other” side, shows they have no critical thinking skills. None at all. What about just agreeing with the person who is just and fair and hoping that the courts will side correctly? Is that too much to ask for in such instances as this?

  15. When Progressive clowns sit on juries evidence doesn’t matter. Rittenhouse will unfortunately lose.

  16. Tilting at windmills.

    That said, let them wield scalpels and other instruments of wicked solutions.

  17. This guy seems like a hippie grifter, working with an unethical lawyer to scam the system. Hopefully, the Judge will throw out the lawsuit based on its fabricated assertions. Why waste the taxpayers’ $ on opportunistic shysters?

  18. I find his name ironic.

    “According to 6 people from the United States and Canada, the name Grosskreutz is of German origin and means “Great Cross”.

    According to 2 people from Illinois, U.S., the name Grosskreutz means “Big cross”.

    According to a user from Texas, U.S., the name Grosskreutz means “Large cross”.

    A user from New York, U.S. says the name Grosskreutz means “Bear the cross”.

    According to a user from Germany, the name Grosskreutz is of German origin and means “Big crossguard”.”

    2020 put us at a big cross in US history.

  19. Its the Left Wing Radical anti gun/Dem’s and others who can’t stand Rittenhouse got off so they use any means to go after Rittenhouse. I am sure after Rittenhouse finishes and wins both law suits they will go after him again just like Trump and others. The Woke crowd will not stop until the Republicans take full control and clean house of the Woke Left wing Radical Dems in gov[t and the courts

  20. Grosskreutz beat up his grandmother? and his girlfriends? That makes him a certifiable Dim! Grosskreutz’s extensive list of criminal behaviors bears striking similarities to the paid trolls. If anything, Rittenhouse is a kind, gentle, merciful man who happily is a terrible shot. Otherwise, had he been a BLM ANTIFA CRT Woke DNC Marxist, Grosskreutz would not be alive today. Some gratitude!

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