Joliet Teen Spits On 2 Police Officers, Judge Orders Him Jailed Under SAFE-T-Act: Records

JOLIET, IL — For the third time in than 90 days, 18-year-old David Anthony Gonzalez is being kept in the Will County Jail, and this time, following allegations that Gonzalez tried to spit in the faces of two different Joliet police officers, Will County Judge Derek Ewanic has ruled that Gonzalez is too dangerous to release back into community.

This week, the Will County State's Attorney's Office charged Gonzalez with two aggravated battery counts and two domestic battery counts.

Gonzalez lives in the 1100 block of Joliet's Norley Avenue.

According to the prosecution's successful petition to deny Gonzalez pretrial release under the SAFE-T-Act, the Joliet police officers responded to his family's house on Norley Avenue on Aug. 16 for a domestic battery incident.

According to court records, officers spoke with the victim, who said his son was destroying objects downstairs in the basement. When the man went downstairs to calm his son down, he came face to face with the defendant, officials said.

Gonzalez told the victim that if he did not get out of his face, he would punch him, court files show. When the victim put up his arm to create distance between the two, Gonzalez hit him with a closed fist in the stomach, prosecutors revealed. The two began to fight as the victim tried to pin Gonzalez down on the ground to control him. Gonzalez then managed to make a second fist with his hand, and he struck the man on the back of his head, court documents show.

Officers said the victim suffered no visible injuries, and Gonzalez admitted to punching the man in the stomach. After Joliet police arrested Gonzalez, "he spat on Officer Conrad Ochotorena, spit landed on his cheek. Defendant also spat on Officer Marco Camarena," prosecutors noted in their criminal complaint.

As for denying pretrial release, Judge Ewanic checked the box that Gonzalez meets the dangerous standard, by clear and convincing evidence.