Woman Dragged From Car In Braidwood, Judge Orders Defendant's Release From Jail

BRAIDWOOD, IL — The Will County State's Attorney's Office has filed 13 charges against 57-year-old Braidwood resident Scott Edman in connection with allegations he threw a woman to the ground and hit her in the head outside a vehicle last week.

According to the petition to deny pretrial release, prosecutors charged Edman with six charges of aggravated battery, six charges of domestic battery and one charge of criminal damage to property. Braidwood police booked Edman into the Will County Jail last Thursday and then over the weekend, Will County Judge Sherri Hale ordered Edman's release from custody under the SAFE-T-Act.

According to the prosecution's petition, on Aug. 14, Braidwood police responded to North Mitchell Street and Round House Street and officers saw a man walking aggressively down the street and managed to calm him down. Officials said it turns out, the man was a witness and a brother of the victim. He told the officers that his sister was abused by Edman.

Braidwood officers interviewed the woman, and she said she was with Edman and her brother, and they decided to go Hayden's Crossing in Wilmington. According to the woman, she made a comment about the table napkins at Hayden's Crossing and that made Edman upset.

From there, the three went to another bar where Edman told someone that the woman he was with was going to get her nipples pierced, which upset her, and she denied it, prosecutors noted. The woman said that on the drive back to Braidwood, another argument broke out and that prompted Edman to pull into the Braidwood police station. However, Edman then pulled out and left, according to prosecutors.

The woman said she then called her ex-husband from the Casey's General Store, and Edman got into the driver's seat and began to drive. Calling her ex-husband made Edman mad, and he took her phone and threw it out the window, damaging the phone, prosecutors outlined.

Edman eventually turned the car around, stopped, got out and approached her side of the vehicle, according to prosecutors. He grabbed her by both arms, dragged her out of the vehicle, threw her to the ground, grabbed her by her hair near her forehead and pushed her head down against the road, court documents show.

The victim told Braidwood police she remembered being hit on the head, and then she blacked out. The woman advised she did not get hit in the face, and she was not choked during the incident, prosecutors said.

Braidwood police said the 911 caller was an innocent bystander who saw Edman exit his vehicle, grab the woman and throw her to the ground. The witness then saw Edman hit the woman as she was lying on the ground, and that's when the witness called 911, police said. Officers noticed the victim had multiple wounds to her legs and thighs that were bleeding, as well as bruising to her wrist, hand and arm, prosecutors said.

According to her ruling, Will County Judge Hale found that although Edman was charged with a detention-eligible offense, the prosecution's petition to detain the Braidwood defendant was denied because of "less restrictive means."

Judge Hale ordered Edman to stay away from his victim and an address in Lockport on Lawrence Avenue. The judge did include in her order that Edman is allowed to travel to Wisconsin for work.

Jail logs indicate that Edman lives in the 100 block of Braidwood's North Harbor Landing.