Grand jury indicts Joliet cop on reckless discharge of a firearm charges but not domestic battery

JOLIET – A grand jury indicted a Joliet cop on reckless discharge of a firearm charges, but took a pass on counts of domestic battery and criminal damage to property.

Police Officer Nicholas Crowley, 37, was charged in a criminal complaint last month with reckless discharge of a firearm, domestic battery and criminal damage to property. Crowley allegedly hit his police officer girlfriend on the head and fired his gun into the ceiling of her town home. The charges also accuse Crowley of damaging the girlfriend’s TV set.

But on Wednesday, a grand jury returned a no bill on the domestic battery and criminal damage charges. A no bill indicates the charges were not supported by the evidence presented before the grand jury.

The indictment was filed with the Will County circuit clerk Thursday but still is not available to the public.

The special prosecutor assigned to the case, Lorinda Lamken, failed to return calls for comment Thursday. A special prosecutor was sought by the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office because Crowley and his girlfriend, as police officers, are witnesses on cases the office is prosecuting.

Crowley’s attorney, Jeff Tomczak, said he didn’t know what was in the indictment since it hasn’t been scanned into online court records.

Crowley's case was scheduled for arraignment Thursday, but that did not happen, Tomczak said.

Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton has said Crowley has been on paid leave while police conduct criminal and administrative investigations into the allegations of Crowley shooting the ceiling, battering his girlfriend and breaking her TV.

Benton failed to return calls for comment Thursday.

Tomczak has filed motions for discovery and preservation of evidence, including tape, audio, video and communication records. He also has sent a subpoena to Joliet police for video, audio, video, 911 calls, photographs and interrogations involving Crowley and a woman who is not the victim in the July 16 incident.

On July 31, Crowley was suspended from his job for five days after internal affairs found that he violated department policy by posing in uniform and brandishing his on-duty firearm in a Snapchat photo.

According to internal affairs, Crowley said he posed with his duty weapon to impress a person whose name was redacted in an investigations report. He admitted to embarrassing the department and himself.