Video: ‘Jerk’ Road Boss Tells Cops About 'Meltdown' Over Old Men's Snowplow Complaint

NEW LENOX, IL — The New Lenox Township road commissioner labeled a “jerk” by a judge who found him not guilty of battering two old men was an emotional wreck and consumed by remorse after the incident, he told two detectives.

“I’m shaking like a dog s--ting razor blades,” Dennis McPartlin, 66, said in a video-recorded interview with two New Lenox police detectives days after the February 2015 incident at the township garage.

“I’m very upset with myself for what I have just done,” McPartlin said in the video, which was obtained this week by Patch. “I have total remorse for the last 96 hours of how stupid, and how I let my emotions take off. I thought I had my anger under control after taking medication about a year ago.”

McPartlin was arrested on charges of battery for allegedly roughing up two men — 83-year-old James Haddon and Dennis Baldauf, 64 — who came by to complain that a snowplow had damaged their mailboxes.

McPartlin denied that a township plow caused the damage and invited the two men inside so Haddon could compare some debris he found by his mailbox to the township trucks. Then McPartlin blew his top.

“He walks over and he puts that thing there and he turns around and gives me this s--t ass grin, like I’m f--king lying to him,” McPartlin shouted at the detectives.

“I said, ‘You’re out of here,’” he said.

Haddon accused McPartlin of knocking him down to one knee, lifting him up by his belt and shirt collar, shoving him from the garage and then grabbing Baldauf. McPartlin told police he only took hold of Baldauf and lifted him up by the collar after Baldauf raised his hand as if to hit him.

“I never raised my hand, I never swore at either one of them,” McPartlin said. “I have a very loud voice. I wear hearing aids.”

Last week, Will County Judge Daniel Rippy called Haddon and Baldauf trespassers and found McPartlin not guilty of battery. The judge did say McPartlin “acted like a complete jerk in this situation.”

McPartlin explained to the police that the stress of working as the road commissioner and keeping the township’s roads clear of snow had him on edge. He also said he was put off by Haddon “wanting to play NCIS or Sherlock Holmes or whatever,” and he was enraged that the elderly man dropped by to call him a liar.

“He’s here to call me a God damn liar!” McPartlin exclaimed. He later conceded that no one actually called him a liar. But even though no one had, McPartlin said getting called a liar really bothers him.

“I do not lie and I hate to be called a liar,” he said.

And while he admitted “words can be hurtful,” he insisted he never harmed Haddon or Baldauf.

“Did I hurt anyone? McPartlin asked the police, then added, “I scared the s--t out of them. I did not hurt anybody.”

Still, McPartlin was feeling pretty bad about things, saying:

• “Do I actually feel terrible? Yes I do.”
• “Are my guts killing me? Yes.”
• “Can I sleep? No. I get five hours if I’m lucky.”
• “I can say my life’s over because I lost my temper but I did not hurt anybody.”
• “I have nothing but guilt and remorse in my body that I let my temper go rather than stay where I was, and I really thought I had my anger management under control, and it’s obvious I do not.”
• “I’m totally ashamed of myself.”