Special prosecutor recommended for Joliet cop's reckless firearm, domestic battery case

JOLIET – A special prosecutor might be appointed to the case of a Joliet police officer accused of hitting his girlfriend and firing his gun into the ceiling of her home.

At a preliminary hearing Friday, Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Fitzgerald told Will County Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes that his office plans to recommend assigning a special prosecutor to Officer Nicholas M. Crowley’s case.

Crowley, 36, faces charges of reckless discharge of a firearm, domestic battery and criminal damage to property. On July 16, he allegedly hit his girlfriend, who also is a Joliet police officer, in the head and fired his gun into the ceiling of her town home.

Will County State’s Attorney’s spokesman Charles B. Pelkie said a special prosecutor will be recommended because there’s a potential conflict of interest in the case.

Crowley, along with his girlfriend, is a witness on cases the state’s attorney’s office is prosecuting, he said. Crowley was scheduled to return to court Sept. 5.

Crowley surrendered to Joliet police on July 16 and was booked into the Will County jail the next day on a $50,000 bond after a bond court hearing. He was released later that afternoon.

As a condition of his bond, Crowley was required to surrender his firearm owner’s identification card to Will County authorities and to surrender all of his firearms to Joliet police. He also was to have no contact with his girlfriend or the address on Mustang Road where the incident occurred.

Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton has said Crowley is on paid leave while police conduct a criminal and administrative investigation into the incident. Crowley has been stripped of his police powers and turned in his badge and gun.

Crowley also was given a five-day suspension July 31 after the Joliet Police Department's internal affairs division found he violated department policy by posing in uniform with his on-duty Glock Model 17 firearm with a resident in a Snapchat photo.

According to the internal affairs investigation report, Crowley said he posed with his duty weapon to impress a person whose name had been redacted. The report, which was obtained by The Herald-News, said that Crowley admitted he “embarrassed the department and himself.”