Former Elmwood Park Fire Chief Faces Criminal Charges For Allegedly Shutting Tiny Tap Employee In Cooler
By Kevin Gosztola, Editor-In-Chief
Former Elmwood Park fire chief Mike Terzo was charged on September 8 with a felony and two misdemeanors, which stem from allegedly attempting to lock a Tiny Tap bar employee in the tavern’s cooler.
The incident occurred on August 10, the same weekend as the Taste of Elmwood Park, and the Chicago Sun-Times was the first to publish a report based on police records from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department (CCSPD). Terzo resigned from his position as fire chief on August 14.
The bar employee told police that during his shift from 7 p.m. on August 9 to 3 a.m. on August 10 he noticed an “unauthorized person in the cooler.” “Do you know who I am?” Terzo asked, as the employee told him he was not allowed in this part of the tavern.
Later, the fire chief stood behind the bar and when told to move allegedly replied, “I’ll move when I get my beer.”
At approximately 1:20 a.m., the employee said the bartender asked him to “retrieve ten Topo Chicos from the cooler.” Terzo shut the door on the employee.
“Are you trying to get out?” Terzo allegedly told the employee, as he attempted to escape the cooler. The employee stuck his head and foot through the door. Terzo bruised the employee as he kept pushing the door closed.
Eventually, the employee was able to force his way out and escort Terzo to the rear exit of the Tiny Tap. The report on the police investigation indicates a crowd formed around the employee and Terzo to separate them. But Terzo allegedly punched the employee while he was “held against a shed in the parking lot.”
The employee claims that Terzo punched him twice and broke his eyeglasses. Not long after, an off-duty Elmwood Park police sergeant escorted Terzo away from the scene.
“That kid was being cocky, so I threw him in the cooler,” Terzo allegedly stated after the incident.
CCSPD charged Terzo with unlawful restraint, battery, and criminal damage to property. Unlawful restraint is a felony offense.
Terzo, who is 55 years old, was scheduled for arraignment on September 16. He had long been a resident of Elmwood Park and worked for the Fire Department since 1999.
In 2015, Terzo was promoted to lieutenant, and by the beginning of 2019, he was promoted to lead the department.
The Sun-Times described Terzo as “politically connected.” He contributed $5,150 to Elmwood Park Village President Angelo “Skip” Saviano between 2013 and 2025, demonstrating over time that he was a regular donor.
Initially, although the Elmwood Park Police Department did not apparently arrest Terzo immediately after the incident, they handled the case. The alleged victim walked into their headquarters to lodge a complaint. However, by August 12, the police department had determined that “there was a conflict of interest for their agency to investigate the incident because the alleged offender was the current fire chief in their town.” The department contacted CCSPD for assistance.
Records that the Sun-Times obtained include further details related to the alleged incident. One patron, who was playing a gaming machine, recalled Terzo “laughing while holding the bar cooler door shut” on the employee.
“Help me. He’s trying to lock me in the cooler,” cried the employee, according to the patron. This witness did not recognize the seriousness of the altercation until the employee was able to exit the cooler.
The same patron involved themselves in trying to separate Terzo and the employee. They believe that Terzo “unintentionally punched” them on the right side of the head.
In another witness report, a person who the Sun-Times said operates the Tiny Tap pulled over on the way to the bar after a “dark-colored SUV flashed its high beams at him.” Terzo was driving the SUV.
Terzo allegedly informed the Tiny Tap operator that Terzo had locked one of his employees in the bar’s cooler for disrespecting him.
Sometime after, Terzo returned to the bar instead of going home. He had another beer.
The tavern operator apparently told Terzo to leave after he finished his beer. “You think you’re a big shot?” Terzo replied. That prompted the operator to order Terzo to leave because he “feared that Terzo would become belligerent.” He even took the beer bottle away from Terzo.
Other witness statements suggest that Terzo ran into a parent or guardian of the employee while at the Tiny Tap. He told this individual, who he knew since “grammar school” that he had locked their kid in the cooler.
One witness believed the fight was horseplay because “everyone in Tiny Tap [was] laughing at them.”
Yet another witness recalled Terzo saying, “He was acting like a punk so I threw him in the cooler.”
Saviano declined to provide any statement to the Sun-Times. However, a spokesperson for the Village of Elmwood Park confirmed that Terzo had been placed on administrative leave before submitting a resignation on August 14.