Ex-Joliet Cop Cleared Again For Using Excessive Force Against Woman

CHICAGO, IL — A jury found a former Joliet police officer not guilty Friday after he had been accused of using excessive force against a woman during a domestic disturbance call five years ago. It's the second time a jury has cleared Thomas O'Connor in connection with the February 2012 incident in which video from a hotel security camera showed him punching a 43-year-old woman in the head more than a dozen times while trying to handcuff her.

Despite the 2013 not guilty verdict by a Will County jury, federal prosecutors charged O'Connor in September of 2016 with violating the woman's Fourth Amendment rights while he was on duty as a police officer, the Herald-News reports. Like the state trial, the jury in the federal case took around two hours to reach a verdict, the report added. If convicted, O'Connor could have faced up to 10 years in prison.

"This is now the second jury that truly appreciated what a dangerous situation Thomas O'Connor was presented with alone and appreciated the true nature of Tom's character," Jeff Tomczak, O'Connor's attorney, told the Herald-News on Friday. "He was a good officer, a good man, and he's a good nurse in the critical care unit at Christ Hospital."

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"The only sad part of this is that the government forced him to go through this a second time for no reason," the lawyer added.

The charges in both trials stemmed from a Feb. 9, 2012, incident. O'Connor responded to a woman's 911 call complaining about a fight with her 48-year-old boyfriend at the Star Inn in the 2200 block of West Jefferson Street. When O'Connor tried to take the woman into custody, she resisted his attempts at handcuffing her.

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In the security camera video, O'Connor is seen slamming the woman into a car's hood, then punching her repeatedly, the Herald-News reports. The woman suffered black eyes, a broken nose and other injuries because of her resistance, the report stated. O'Connor testitied in 2013 that he used as much force as he thought was requred to control the situation, the report added. He was fired four days after the incident.

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