D-95 School Board Candidate Arrested For Domestic Violence While Apparently Intoxicated –

In response to the novel-length statement(s) of James Peterson, above:

“But yelling and shoving does not necessarily constitute domestic “violence”.”

Um, yeah, it pretty much does:
(720 ILCS 5/12-3.2) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-3.2)
Sec. 12-3.2. Domestic battery.
(a) A person commits domestic battery if he or she knowingly without legal justification by any means:
(1) causes bodily harm to any family or household member;
(2) makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with any family or household member.

A police officer, hearing a witness statement that she was shoved by a household member and seeing a scene that is consistent with that statement, including a victim who is visibly upset has probable cause to make an arrest under 720 ILCS 5/12-3.2(a)(2). Not only COULD he make an arrest, the protocols of the police departments that I am familiar with in Central Illinois REQUIRE an arrest under those circumstances. There is more than enough for the offense to be charged, and if the evidence at trial supported the initial report, more than enough to convict.

Bottom line? Mama was right: “Keep your hands to yourself, Junior!”

This is a LOL moment here where a RETIRED police sergeant from LA comes to the rescue of the victim and police officer Bell who hastily decided to separate this couple into perpetrator and victim, by charging the first with “battery” although devoid of any signs of such. You see the police like to separate us into victims and perpetrators, it exemplifies their ignorance and justifies their existence; their distorted black and white vision of our very and increasingly complicated world. Apparently now in retirement this ex LEO is now studying to become a lawyer. Perhaps he is right but he -again- ignores the fact that upon review the so called “probable cause” for this arrest was found to be NOT so “probable” and now the big suits in collusion with the local PD and who knows what will decide to bury the case, hush hush and it will go away. Although “Joe Friday” is correct about the JUDICI records as part of the process, IF he really worked as a LEO long enough he should have been aware that many times, exactly because an arrest was made “without probable cause” thus deemed “illegal”, a decision from “above” was made to not record it in JUDICI at ALL !!! As a final statement, contrary to what this SGT claims, officer Bell’s “performance” is deemed as poor and it could expose his PD and thus the City of Paris, IL to a lawsuit and even officer Bell’s qualified immunity can be removed should a judge order so.

As a rebuttal to what “Friday” said praising officer Bell:

1. “Officer Bell wrote a very detailed and professional report.” That’s his job. Being professional during the execution of your job duties should not bring praise, it is the absolute minimum the default expectation we should have from LEOs. Going above and beyond should be praised NOT writing a basic incident report.

2. “He exhibited empathy and concern for the victim and her children” A LEO is not about exhibiting empathy and concern about the so called “victim” he is supposed to be impartial during the execution of his duties. Police does not take side, police is the enforcer of the law. It’s very surprising “Friday” ignores that.

3. “covered the elements of the offense (Domestic Battery), and documented the fine details” He did that for sure to support his decision to arrest this man. But he (most likely) arrived at the “Domestic Battery” offense without much thought and only because the “arrest” will support his status among his PD peers. I wonder what will happen when the judge will throw the case out the window for lack of probable cause and upon request of the husband’s attorney charges officer Bell with “illegal arrest”. then his qualified immunity goes down the drain along with his pension and “career” (if being a lousy cop in a small rural PD is any career).

4. “including the visible impact on the children”. Children can and will cry for absolutely no reason. There was obviously yelling back and forth from both wife and husband but where there any visible signs of battery on the wife or the children. The reports are “silent” about that. And BTW did you former officer “Friday” realize that the wife has a beef with the husband because they are going through a very contentious divorce? Is it possible that she tried to push a drunk man into the couch but instead the opposite happened. Why are you taking sides, and not trying to remain 50/50 on what appears to be a domestic dispute (not battery) matter.

5. “He also documented his adherence to proper handcuffing procedures.” This can only be taken as a JOKE !!! Officer Bell did that ONLY because he wanted to avoid being accused for police brutality as is often the case when LEOs instead of acting as true “serving and protecting” agents of our society act like thugs torturing their arrestees. The documentation of “proper handcuffing procedures” was done to save his …”bacon” not for any other reason, absolutely!!!

The primary moral of this case is, this is YET another sad example of the deterioration of the family nucleus in our society and as a secondary though that PDs should do a better job hiring better, more “professional” LEOs.

As a blanket statement, domestic violence is abhorrent, despicable and should be severely punished and eradicated, if only were possible. In this case however the facts are a little …muddy. Indeed we have a couple with some domestic problems most likely coming from a non-existent, poor interpersonal relationship between this woman and her husband. But yelling and shoving does not necessarily constitute domestic “violence”. There are many ways to interpret what went down but if you carefully read what the “watchdogs” wrote, the LEO’s report and finally the wife’s statement (which in my opinion is largely incoherent), it is clear as sunshine obvious that we have 3 different versions of the events. Trying to read between the lines and come up with something in between these 3 versions of the incident, I conclude as such: 1. We have a man who had too much to drink and is trying to sleep it off (in the living room couch and/or in his bedroom) inside his house. 2. We have his wife who (is probably unhappy with her married life in general) coming into the house and trying to wake him up and move him to another room because she wants to sleep where he is. 3. At some point they both find themselves back in the living room in the presence of their kids, most likely yelling at each other, possibly the wife trying to move him back to the couch, while holding her child (!!!) I mean what was she thinking?!?, he becomes upset and pushes her out the way and goes back to sleep. Then comes the police “investigative work”. At no point -in any report- there is mention that the husband hit his wife in any way. Still the LEOs, based on the wife’s and a 2 and a 6 y.o. children’s version of events deduct that “Domestic Battery” has occurred and place the husband under arrest. I did not read in the police report or in the wife’s statement that she was hit (as in striken) by her husband, not even once which would have been enough, anyway. The kids never mentioned anything of that sort, there were not physical signs on the wife that she was beaten and the fact that the 2 y.o. had a red face and was loudly crying was certainly the ruckus that transpired (mostly verbally) between her parents. I am not trying to defend the husband. He brought all this to himself for being a drunk and for (most likely) allowing his relationship with his spouse to deteriorate to this low state. What I am trying to say is that, yes, it’s a good think the police was called after the 911 (you can never be sure about anything so better be safe than sorry). But entering the house without a warrant by (almost surely) imposing on the husband an ultimatum and concluding that “battery” had taken place without probable cause will give this (moron) husband’s lawyer grounds to get him off regardless what happened. Police upon arrival should have moved husband and wife and kids (fully separated) outside the house, take their statements and then make a decision, probably calling in their PD asking for further advice. Since the wife’s parents were there police could have ask them to mitigate in this situation and provide a temporary solution, i.e. taking their daughter and grandchildren to their home and let the clown husband sleep it off. Finally, what is not clear from the reports, is whether the wife asked the police to press charges thus leading to the necessary arrest of the husband. In my humble opinion, and beyond the obvious problematic relationship of this couple, the escalation of this incident from a common domestic dispute to a “battery” case is a gross mistake by the local police and I’m afraid once the husband gets off he then might actually try to retaliate against his wife with consequences unknown to us at the moment. I hope this case finds the proper solution but if there is one party to blame that is not the ignorant husband who tried to sleep it off, not the wife who was trying to put sense to a drunk man’s mind, BUT the police who eager as always to create criminals to justify their salary, arrested a man without probable cause and technically without obvious signs that a “crime” had been committed. Anyway, may God (whomever each one believes in) help us all, we live in an upside world that’s rapidly deteriorating from our once (but no longer) sacred values and swiftly racing towards its collapse.

Officer Bell wrote a very detailed and professional report. He exhibited empathy and concern for the victim and her children, covered the elements of the offense (Domestic Battery), and documented the fine details…including the visible impact on the children. He also documented his adherence to proper handcuffing procedures.

I am impressed.

SALUTE to Officer Bell.

Now, for the questions:
I’m a little rusty on current Domestic Battery law and prosecutions, and perhaps the victim has decided not to cooperate with prosecution, but…
I find it unusual, as accepted standard practice and State’s Attorneys’ offices go, that the SA has not yet filed the charge of Domestic Battery, nor has that office seen to it that the Circuit Clerk’s Office has documented the basic arrest in JUDICI records. Arrests are always documented on Judici regardless of whether the arrest results in a prosecution. The “Disposition” link on the arrestee’s Judici record will list the actual result, such as GUILTY, NOT GUILTY, NOLLE PROSEQUI (a formal abandonment by the plaintiff/victim or prosecutor of all or part of the action/prosecution).

Why the delay in listing the probable cause arrest on the JUDICI record? Will the arrest – and the disposition – ever be listed on the Judici record?
Is there any behind-the-scenes “advocacy” or preferential treatment being given?

If a prosecution does not occur, we should still expect the Judici/public record to document the arrest and the disposition.